Destiny Part 1
by Stormy Grey Skies
Summary: The Oracle, The Probe, The Shield, The Sword, The Arrow, and The Bow. All part of a single destiny. All alone in their own ways, they will meet, and form unbreakable bonds. They are the most powerful of their kind, the only hope of many. They just don't know it yet. NOTE: Decided to post Part 2 separately.
1. Prologue

Summary

The Oracle. The Probe. The Shield. The Sword. The Arrow, and The Bow. All main characters in a centuries-old legend. One that was foretold by an Ancestor. Or, to be more accurate, an Ancestress. The highest of the high, the purest of the pure. One of the Guild. They were to meet, in a dreary little town in the country we now know as America. No one, not even the one who foretold this momentous occasion knew exactly where. All alone in their own ways, all scorned by those who were meant to care for them, to provide for them, to protect them. And in that darkness, the darkness that all lonely people live, they would form bonds so deep no enemy, not even Death itself, or any partial death could sever them. They were the only hope, the only whispers of rebellion that lined the dreams of their kind. They were to be the most powerful. Even more powerful than the corrupt, injust, so-called "Government" of their world. They were to be the change that their kind have been waiting so desperately for. And they never showed up. Their destiny was cast aside by those who should have feared them. They were said to have been nothing but an unattainable dream made up by a desperate witch. But those who still believed, held strong to their hopes. Now, present day, they have finally emerged. They are the Ones Foretold. They just don't know it yet.

Prologue

They were always destined to be together. Actually, all of them were meant to form these bonds. Bonds so powerful they could easily bring the world to ashes. Standing in this moment, now, with those she loved firmly at her side, she finally realized the depth of these bonds. She couldn't break them if she tried. But who would ever want to, when you just knew that they would always have your back, and you would always have theirs? Being alone was something she had experienced before, and her friends, if you could call them as simple as something like that, had changed that for her. After all, it's not what it's all cracked up to be. And then there was him. He was the one who truly brought her into the light. Out of the darkness. He was the one who set her free, knowing she'd come back to him, time and time again. He was her life. No, more than that. Her destiny? Her fate? All of these things were true, and yet…nothing could ever describe what he was to her. No mere words could ever describe the pure strength and depth of her love for him. Even now, standing in the midst of destruction, her thoughts strayed to him, as they always would. Forever. It was, in the simplest terms, their destiny.

Chapter 1: Memories

BPOV

"_Bells! I'm leaving! Don't you wanna come give your daddy a hug?" He chuckled, eyes bright._

"_Daddy! No! Don't leave!"_

"_Bells, my little girl, I have to go to work."_

"_But….something bad's gonna happen! I know it!"_

"_Come on, have a little faith in your daddy. I'll be fine. Give me a kiss?"_

"_Okay." I sniffed. "And I'm not little! I'm six years old!"_

"_Alright, alright. You're a big girl, I know. I love you!"_

"_Love you too, Daddy." His big, warm brown eyes crinkled up at the corners into the full-blown smile I loved. Blowing me a kiss, he left. Little did he know, that would be the last time I'd ever see him again. That afternoon, he was killed in the line of duty. The small town we lived in wasn't exactly a major center of crime, but on that one afternoon, Charlie, being the good police chief he was, was gunned down at a robbery. Not even a bank robbery, but at a little corner convenience store. The shooter was later arrested by Charlie's partner, charged for constructive manslaughter, and put in prison. But that didn't really matter to me. I was a six year old girl who had just lost her daddy. Nothing could comfort me._

I woke up in tears. Sitting up in bed, I pulled the covers off my body and swung my legs off the bed. I sniffled and then cursed my subconscious for the millionth time. This was one of the dreams that I had over and over again. But this one was worse than the nightmare, because this one was really the last memory I had of "the good days". Those all ended when Charlie died. Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm down. Once I stopped crying, I lay back down and tried to get back to sleep. I needed it. After all, tomorrow was my first day at a new school.

"_Okay, students, class dismissed," my teacher announced as the dismissal bell rang. "Don't forget your social studies test is on Tuesday. You should take home your textbooks and study over the weekend." Replies of "yeah, whatever" rang back at her. I was, as usual silent and quiet in a corner, overlooked, yet watching the student closest to me's every move. This is what I usually did during classes, as I caught on to things quickly, and was always bored. I was what people would call a "rebel". Then again, they were the usual shallow high school students, those shallow-minded teenagers portrayed on TV only cared about themselves and their immediate so-called "crises". Just because I could fight, was somewhat different than them, and had a few marks on my record, I was pegged with a label, and shoved into a tiny little box. Sure I might participate in a few "unconventional" after-school activities, so what? It was another way to make the money I needed to support myself and my "mother"._

_ Arriving at my-_**the**_- house, as my so-called mother reminded me, I unlocked the door. Yeah, _**"mom"**,_ I pay the bills and work hard to put food on the table while you go live it up, and it's _**you're**_ house. That's fair. Please note my sarcasm. Mental eye roll, anyone?_

_The house was empty, as usual. I noticed she had made a mess again when she was getting pre-drunk drunk. A note left on the fridge demanded that I clean up the house. Of course, this was expected, as was cooking a meal for both of us, even though I would be the only one eating. I would have to put it in the fridge and she would eat it the next day. After all, she can't exactly eat dinner when she comes back wasted and maybe a little high from all that partying. God forbid she actually look after herself or take care of me instead of the other way around. Tomorrow would be a day of cleaning up puke and giving her Tylenol for her massive hangover. And the day after that would be the same thing all over again. Quoting her, "It's the weekend, baby! Relax." Yeah, well what about during the weekdays? Drinking all the time. Although, technically, as she had pointed out, "Drinking solo ain't partying, sugar!" _

_At least she was a happy drunk. It was hard enough trying to provide for the both of us on minimum wage. It had been worse when I was a kid. I had to stretch my babysitting money enough for groceries and bills. Thank God we still had Charlie's life insurance and the money he had left to us to help us limp along. Back then her partying wasn't as bad. She had turned to a life of bars and hookups as a coping mechanism after a long period of her just laying in bed all day, depressed and unresponsive. I don't know which was worse._

_After doing my homework , doing the housework, and making and eating dinner, I checked the mail. Bills and ads made up the pile. I checked my cash stash and came up a little short. I needed to make the money by tomorrow. So I headed out to my… "side job". Street fighting._

"_Hey Bells, fightin' tonight?" Jake asked. He had been my friend since we were really little. He was three years older than me, and his dad Billy had died in a car accident about a year ago. We had stayed in touch, as he had helped me accept my dad's death before my mom decided we just had to move to Arizona. When the accident happened, I invited him to come live with me and my mom, since he was eighteen, a legal adult. He had moved over here, and crashed at our place for a couple of weeks, before Renee decided that since it was _**her**_ house, and the guys she brought home didn't like having Jake there, she would kick him out. He got his own place and a job at the fast food store I worked at, but, like me, it hadn't been enough. So he turned to street-fighting. He was a pretty good fighter. Never lost, except to me. He always said I was just unnaturally good at it. We watched each other's backs. _

"_Yeah. And I told you to call me ?" I asked._

"_Sure,sure. You know I'm used to Bells. Be careful. One o' them big guys was bragging about this new knife he got. Said he was gonna' use it soon."_

"_Don't worry. I can take care of myself. You should look out too."_

"_Duly noted. You got your's? You know, just in case?"_

" _Never leave home without it."_

"_Good."_


	2. New

**Chapter 2: New Day, New School**

**BPOV (Izzy)**

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! **Annoying alarm clock, why did I buy you again? I pounded it twice. **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! **_**CRASH!**_ Alarm clock had it coming. Well, I was awake now. I sat up. In bed.

_My, what an interesting inner monologue you have._

Sigh.

_ Oh, come on. I'm the one whose supposed to be your inner bitch, remember? What's with all the sighing._

You know, normal people don't have inner bitch voices in their heads.

_Since when could you be classified as normal?_

Oh, well. On with my morning! Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I began my morning routine. Fifteen minutes later I was finishing up my toast, fully clothed and ready to go.

_Wait, are you fully clothed? You've gotta make sure. One time, you walked out the door in you bra and boxers, remember?_

What? I'm a boxer girl. Lots of girls wear boxers these days. They're comfy.

As you can tell, I'm not really a morning person. Jeans? Check. Band shirt? Yep. Favorite belt with the silver studs? Mmhmm. Shoes? Black vans on my feet.

_Good job, pat on the back. You can successfully put on clothes._

Oh shut up, head. Stepping out the door, I checked my reflection for a second in the hall mirror. Can't have the teachers spotting my babies, right? I'm pretty sure my beautiful blades would be confiscated. And the police would have to be called and I'd have to go through way too much trouble just to get my knives back. Dark choppy shoulder blade-length hair. Metal ring in the left corner of my bottom lip. Two more metal rings the outer corner of my right eyebrow. Studs in my left. And the silver chain of the necklace I always wore peeking out of my shirt. Yep. My usual. Alright, now let's see what this little town has to offer.

Alice POV

Why did we have to move here, again? I had lots of friends back home in New York. But apparently, my mom decided Seattle was a better place for her interior design business. And since daddy dearest is in the big house for life, I don't exactly have many options.

Besides, Alice Brandon is made up of tougher stuff than a pesky move can destroy. I may seem like it, but I'm not that cliche fashion bitch. Yes, I'll admit I'm a bit spoiled but hey, there's nothing wrong with liking the finer things in life.

Now I'm in this tiny little town in Washington. Everybody's going to know everybody here, and I'll just be that midget freak who always dresses differently. Not my fault none of these small town people have any fashion sense. Oh well. Maybe somebody will at least dress decently. Or I could always just try to make some friends, and hope my clothes knowledge will rub off on them. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Feeling more positive already, I hopped into my beloved yellow Porsche and rolled out. The great thing about my mom never being here, and my dad being in prison is that my mom always gets guilty that we aren't really close, 'cause of her job and stuff, and she gives me lots of expensive presents and money. Well, here's hoping my first day at Forks High won't go down the toilet.

Edward POV

Forks. What a joke. And apparently my new home. Who names a town after silverware? Seriously. But my mom apparently married a guy who lives here. A guy who hates my guts. And just happens to own a sporting goods store that he expects me to work at. For free. Aren't there laws about that? I guess, not if you're technically "related" to the employer. And guess what? I have a stepbrother now. Yaaaay. Not. His name is Mike. Newton.

Or, as he likes to introduce himself as, Newton. Mike Newton. Who does he think he is? James Bond? Oh wait, he does. I caught him in his "spy gear" playing with his toys the other day. But of course, he calls it his "spy gadget watch." Idiot. At least I got Jasper. I know, sounds like a cat, right? Nowhere near as dumb as Newton, though. So glad I got to keep my last name, Mason. Sure my dad left me and my mom before I was born and didn't even wait to see me, but his last name is much better than the vile Mike Newton's.

Jasper Whitlock is my brother. I know he isn't technically related to me, but we're brothers. He's my mom's son, even though she wasn't the one that gave birth to him. He was "adopted". We found him, we took him in, well, more like he and his 'dad' took us in, at first, and when we could, we legally adopted him. Nobody questioned it, everybody just assumed he was my half brother. After all, my mom had had a stage she went through.

She…..had some rough spots she went through, and kind of… slept around a little bit. And yes, she did resort to prostitution. But only briefly. And only because we didn't have any funds. As soon as me and Jasper got old enough to do any sort of job in Chicago, we did. We worked so that she wouldn't have stand on the street. Forks wasn't just the Newtons' house, it was my mom trying to give us all a new start, one that didn't consist of everybody calling our mom a whore, slut, and similar names.

And then there was Jasper's dad. He actually was pretty decent, had a ranch. He wasn't really Jasper's dad, just a kind, lonely soul. He took care of us, treated us like family, even though he had just found us. He decided to take us in, like he did Jasper. And then, one day, he went to buy some supplies off the ranch, and got into a car crash. And our mom…was gone. She crashed, withdrew into herself. It happened again two years later when we were fifteen and Jasper ran away and lived on the street for a while. So when Newton came around on some kinda business trip, we approved. Until he started sneering at us, cussing us out. He's actually pretty creative with cusses when he's drunk. But he took care of our mom. So if he hated our guts it was fine with us. As long as he treated her right.

But still, even though I got that stuff, that didn't mean I was looking forward to my first day at Forks High. In the words of Jasper, this was gonna be hell.

Jasper POV **(The one we're all looking forward to! Don't lie to yourself**.)

"Jasper! Come on! We're gonna be late!" Like I really wanted to go in the first place.

"Yeah!" I called back. I grabbed my stuff and stashed my iPod in my back pocket, leaving my earbuds hanging out. I stopped for a second, then grabbed my switchblade and stuffed it in there too. It was a habit I had picked up from my days of street fighting in Chicago. I guess we're gonna do the whole life story thing, huh. Stupid inner monologue. Of course, nobody else knew how I made money when I went off on my own, or before, when I was just another kid living on the streets. Even though I was young, I learned quick. I quickly rose to the top. Every now and then someone got in a swipe, and I had the scars to back me up, but I was good at thinking on my feet and strategizing, and never lost a fight. When I left for a year, I naturally kind of, fell back into it.

But I couldn't let my adoptive family down. Well, our messed up version of a family, anyways. We were odd, but we worked. And to me, they were my real family, even if we didn't share the same DNA. Eventually, the continual watching my back, sleeping with one eye open, and living in the street or crappy hotels got to me, and I went back home. Luckily, I had "borrowed" a cell phone and could call home. Actually, luckily they hadn't changed their numbers, and picked up. There were lots of things that could have happened and that one call left wouldn't have made it through. Or they could've just kicked me out. But they didn't. and it brought our family closer together. We all stuck up for each other. I was a usually a quiet kind of guy, but the quietness had always had another purpose. It was all strategic. There was always a part of my brain that was constantly analyzing, making plans, marking escape routes, and stuff like that. Even after I went home I still occasionally snuck out to fight. It brought in cash, and, I'd never admit it, but I liked it. It was where I could relieve tension, stress, and I could put my strategic mind to use. I felt alive. It was where I belonged. In some ways, it _was_ home.

EmmetPOV

_"You really think you can take me?" That ugly ass guy sneered. That's it. Fucker's going down, and he's goin down hard. Sure, I'd been drinking, but I could tell he'd been drinking more. And I think he was a little high, too. I knew I could hold my drink. It seems like he couldn't say the same._

_ I threw the first punch, but the ass was provoking me. That's what I said to my dad that evening. Then again, he was stoned, so I don't think he'll remember anything about that night. Or most nights, to be honest. He blacked out my eye and then passed out on the couch. Same old, same old._

_I woke up with my head feeling like a marching band had led an elephant wearing those foot horn things around. Hangovers are horrible. Which reminds me, I gotta go get my dad some aspirin, or he's gonna kill me. I'll deal with him later. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll just go sleep at the Super 8 again. Ray won't mind. He's usually out drinking with my dad. Guess I'll take the truck too… maybe I should just live on my own. It's not like he'd notice. I should just skip on out of town. Yeah. That's what I'll do. I'm not gonna put up with his crap anymore. I grabbed my gym bag, stuffed some clothes in there, and some of my shit that I didn't wanna leave behind. Money. I need money. I snuck into the living room and raided anything in sight. In total I came up with $950 bucks. Not too bad. I thought we'd have less. That'll let me get somewhere else where I can find some kinda job. Now I just need to pick a place. Well, it has to be off most maps…wait. I think I have a grand-aunt, the only other family I had, in this little town called Forks. I could go there. If she doesn't want me, I can find somewhere else to stay._

"Hey Nonna." I walked up behind the elderly, nice, little old lady I call my grand-aunt, and kissed her cheek.

"Hi. I punched an old geezer today. Just thought you should know. So, how was work?" Yeah, she was sweet, but she was a tough old lady. She was definitely a McCarty. Unlike my dad. That's right. My dad wasn't even man enough to give me his last name. To him, I was just a nuisance. Sure, I took care of him, but he didn't care. But I've got Nonna now. She was a feisty old bat, but she was my Nonna..

"Oh, don't forget, school starts tomorrow. Now, I know you're eighteen and old enough to be a legal adult, but you're my kid, and don't you forget it. So you're goin ta school, ya hear? I don' wan' you to be late on your first day, either. No skippin' out to make money. You got a job already. Just relax, I've got money in the bank, and now that I have ya', I'll be takin' care of ya'. Got it?" she asked, sternly, but the twinkle in her eye told me she was just being Nonna.

"Yes, ma'm"

"Good. Now sit your ass down on that there seat and eat some dinner, already."

"Yes, Nonna."

Tomorrow, school would start. The enemy of kids everywhere, where they throw a bunch of hormonal, adolescent teens into a building together, along with a few poor souls who have to try to teach them stuff, when they don't really want to learn it, and hope they make it out alive. Yeah, whose bright idea was that? I mean, seriously. I avoided it at all costs. I doubt any of the students knows me. I'm barely there.

RosaliePOV

"Hello?"

"Hey, mom."

"Hello, honey. Is there anything important that you're calling about? I'm busy."

"You are? Still? Well…actually, I can handle it on my own. Just wanted to say hi, I guess."

"Good. Now, is that all I have to get back to work."

"Okay. Be safe. B-" Before I even finished saying bye, she hung up. The whole conversation barely took five seconds.

She's always out on business trips and stuff. Ever since my dad got sent to prison, she's thrown herself into work to keep her mind off of it. In a way, it's betrayal, because she didn't even care enough about me to see how I was handling it. She didn't try to get over what he had done together, even though I was the one who got beaten that night. She didn't try to comfort me after finding out that my own father took my virginity. By force. You'd think that most mothers would be pretty damn concerned. Not her. Oh, no. Rosalie's a big girl. She can handle herself. She totally isn't scarred for life by an, oh, life-scarring event. NOooooo.

Stop. Breathe, Rosalie, breathe. I need to stop thinking about that before I break down. This was how I got over it. I didn't have anyone to help me. I guess I got better on the outside, better at holding it in. Maybe this is the best I'll ever get. But I want to get over it. Put it in the past. That didn't seem possible.

So, instead of telling my mom that I started school today, I just grabbed my stuff. She wouldn't really care anyway. We had never been especially close to begin with, and now we just drifted apart even more. Besides, she abandoned me, basically. But I'm Rosalie Hale, and I can take care of myself. I knew I was beautiful and I flaunted it. Rosalie made a game of luring boys in only to break them apart in the end. And if any guy came onto her, she kneed them in the balls. If any guy touched her without her permission, she gave them a black eye and a split lip. She was a cold-hearted bitch who talked the talk and walked the walk. Alright, let's show these kids whose boss. I heard there were four new kids coming today, and I have to show them that I'm the queen bitch around here. Okay. Let's go. Yep, a pep talk is all I needed.


	3. First Impressions

Chapter 3: First Impressions

**IzzyPOV**

I pulled up at the crappy place they call a high school in Forks. I woulda thought it was just another grouping of buildings if not for the sign. Huh. The sign that had no graffiti on it whatsoever. Either the janitors put in overtime for the first day of school, or this place boring as the name suggested. Either one was depressing. Actually, this whole town was like a giant wad of boring and depressing. Mental sigh here. Everybody was staring at me and my car. Well, probably mostly my car, since the windows were so tinted, they were basically blacked out. It is a pretty awesome car though.

My baby was a 1969 427 COPO Chevelle, and I loved it. I'd restored it to it's full glory and then jacked it up a little. I saw everyone whispering about the new classic car, and I smirked. I used to hate attention, didn't want people to figure out how crappy my home life was. Now, I loved it. It didn't bother me like it used to. I wanted to make a lasting impression, so I pulled on my shades, since it was a rare sunny-ish day in Forks. I kicked off my Vans and instead, pulled on my combat boots and made sure I had my weaponry stashed where they belonged. I tied up my tee so the edges of my tattoo were showing. This way I feel more comfortable and confident. Might as well make a big first impression. I got out of my car and I think everyone took in a collective gasp. They didn't think a short, thin looking girl like me would drive that kind of vehicle. They had no idea what I was capable of.

Within the first five seconds, I had fully taken in and comprehended my surroundings, mentally labeling the smallest things that could possibly have the slightest of effects on me. There was a blonde ice queen in the corner who seemed to be the queen bitch. A spiky haired girl in designer clothes seemed to be talking to her. They didn't seem like friends, yet, anyway. I'd assume she was new, like me, but if there's one thing I've learned in my brief sixteen years of this so called life, it was to never assume things. Well, we all have to make little conclusions, but you have to make sure you get all the facts for the larger ones.

After all, that's how most of my opponents went down. They saw me as little or no threat at all, until I knocked 'em flat on their backs. Which was always an easy thing to do. Across the parking lot, a dude with weird reddish hair, that I think some people would describe as "bronze" was staring intently, and a little creepily, if you ask me, at the spiky haired girl. He was in practically the same pose as this giant buff guy who was practically drooling over the blond. He was all muscle, and would have probably looked pretty intimidating to anyone else. But the one person who really caught my eye, was the silent guy in the corner.

He looked like could tell that he was strong, but in a leaner way than the buff guy. He had this fast, almost deadly look about him that told me all that I needed to know. He was like me. He had that strategizing look about him that I had usually only seen on myself. He was easily overlooked, but I knew that he was possibly the most lethal one here, other than me. He started walking over to Ginger, and, let me tell you, that male had the sexiest walk I'd ever seen. His walk, while slow and almost lazy, exuded a kind of quiet confidence and power that seemed almost seductive, to me at least. Mid-stride, the corner of his mouth drew up into a smirk, and I knew that he had made the same observations as I had about his friend, the ginger. I also knew that he saw me watching him; by the way he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. It was a look I was familiar with, having made it myself, many times. I smirked right back at him. I recognized the look of a fighter, and by the way he casually shifted his stance as he walked in response to people, things, around him, I knew he was good. It had been a while since I had a challenge, and I was looking forward to this one.

Trouble and a challenge.

This should be interesting.

**JasperPOV**

As I approached my brother, I knew several things. He was enraptured by the well dressed spiky headed girl, she was attracted to him, too, even if she didn't know it, and the sexy brunette in the combat boots was watching me. As for the first two, well they were pretty obvious. I knew my brother well enough to say that this was the first girl he had ever felt an attachment to, never mind one this strong. The girl in question was instantly aware of him; it was all in her posture. Her body was already instinctually in aware of him, even before she saw him. And I was glad for my brother; after all, it would be really sad if he stayed a virgin forever.

The third I knew with the same certainty that I knew that she was a fighter. A good one, too. Her analytical gaze was too evaluating for anything else. Most people would dismiss her as no threat, but I could tell she was very competent. For the first time in a long while, I could tell she was probably as good as I was, and I was interested in who would win if we faced off. I was confident that I would in a fair fight, but there was something about her that told me she was not to be hurt, to protect her at all costs. It was such a strong instinct, I wondered if I could fight it for long enough to actually fight her. Oh well, no use in thinking about that strangeness now, I have a brother to harass.

The thought brought a smirk to my lips. After all, who would miss an opportunity to tease their brother about something like this? But even as I focused on my teasing my brother, I glanced once more at the brunette out of the corner of my eye, and I knew with certainty that as hard as I tried to push her out of my mind, there would always be some small part of me that was constantly, almost painfully aware of her, and more than in a strictly strategic way. I somehow felt that this year was the turning point for not just me, but somehow, this was one of those moments where certain people and certain things come together and that it would change my life forever. Trouble or opposite was still up for debate. And that she was an important part of it. That she would be an important part of me.


	4. Contact

Chapter Four: Meeting

**DISCLAIMER: I forget to do this a lot. So, this is one for the whole story. I do not own the Twilight franchise. That belongs to SM. Ideas are mostly mine though. I apologize if stuff from things I read seeps in every now and then. I will try my hardest to patch those up.**

**IzzyPOV**

I walked to my first class from the office, still trying to shake off the encounter with my new challenge, as I would refer to him as, in all future conversations with myself that take place in my head. Wow. That sounded weird, even to me. Huh. Luckily, I was still very aware of my surroundings, even while carrying out my decidedly odd mental monologue, or I would have crashed straight into Blondie the Possible Ice Queen from earlier.

"Watch where you're going, newbie." She sneered at me.

In the second it took for her to say that, I had already analyzed and mentally catalogued everything about her. Appearance, approximate height and weight, body language. Sometimes an eidetic memory has its benefits. It was the last one that had me smirking. While she may have been able to fool most people with her confidence, aloofness, and all around snootiness, she couldn't fool me. The way she shifted slightly when talking down to me, the way she carried herself, all pointed to faked confidence, not real, natural confidence. I could tell that she always had to subconsciously, or maybe even sometimes consciously monitor her stance, her actions, so as not to seem vulnerable. And while I filed that tidbit in my brain for a possible later date, I wouldn't call her out on that. Yet. But that didn't stop me from hinting that I knew she wasn't what she showed everybody else.

"Maybe you work on being more observant. Then again, most people aren't very. I know you know that better than most people, am I right? It's just so easy to fake it when nobody ever seems to see, huh?" Hmm. Seems like I managed to shock her for a moment. Score one for the Izzmeister. Wow. Izzmeister? I needed to get a life.

_You said it, not me._

Shut up.

**RPOV**

As she walked away, I could only stand there like an idiot. Nobody had ever seen through my perfect façade, how could she? I mentally cursed myself. I must have slipped up. No, I couldn't have. I was sure I hadn't. She was just bluffing, she had to be. Still trying to make up my mind, I bumped into someone. Wow, maybe I really did need to watch where I was going. _No, Rosalie, don't let her into your head!_

"I-I'm sorry, are you okay?" A deep voice sounded, bringing me out of my mental musings. I looked up to see who I had bumped into, about to apologize, or maybe throw out another sarcastic retort, when my eyes met his. He was gorgeous, all muscles, with curly dark brown hair, and the most amazing pair of dark forest green eyes with a splash of light brown. I didn't even know that was possible, but here they were. Here he was. He was exactly what my type would be, the prince I dreamed about in all my little girl fairytales. _What are you doing, Rosalie? Stop drooling over this random guy before he thinks you're either loosing it or insanely desperate! _Clearing my throat awkwardly, I stepped out of his embrace, feeling a small sense of disappointment at the feeling of being out of his arms, before mentally kicking myself again._ YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HIS NAME! DON'T GET ATTATCHED!_

"Um, yeah," _Way to stun him with your brilliance _"What's your name? I don't think I've seen you around before." I was struggling with my bitch face. Usually my bitch face was my default. What the hell is wrong with me today?

"No, uh, I'm Emmet McCarthy. What about you? You got a name?" He asked, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, almost pulling up into a smile. Huh. Hello, Mr. Dimple. Cute.

"Yeah, actually, it's Rosalie. Hale. Or Rose, I guess." I said, shocking myself. I never let anyone call me Rose. Must be more off my game then I thought.

"Well, nice to meet you, but shouldn't you be in class?" What time is it, anyway? I glanced at the nearest clock.

"Shouldn't you?"

"True. Very true. What's your excuse?"

" I don't know, I just don't feel like sitting through English right now." And it was partially true. That was one of the reasons I was out here.

"Me too. Who do you have?"

"Mr. Rossinger. You?"

"Well, it seems like we have the same class. Or rather, we're both ditching the same class."

"Yeah, I heard that Mr. Rossinger's really boring, though, but he usually just makes everybody do everything at home, so I doubt we're missing much."

"Huh. Still though, I kinda gotta show up at some point or I won't be coming back to school tomorrow, I'd be six feet under, with the police wondering where I went."

"Huh, well, I guess I'll go with you, then."

"Come on." He said, holding out his hand and jerking his head in the direction of our class. His eyes were so warm, some kind of amusement dancing in them. Fighting a small smile at the warm feeling it gave me, I put my hand in his and followed him. Of course, I feigned nonchalance, but god he's going to be major trouble.

**IzzyPOV**

When I finally made my way to my first class, history, I realized how late I was. Oops. How did I finally find out, you ask? Well, it might've been the fact that everyone besides me was there, staring at the interruption that was me. Or, of course, it might've been this:

"Late? One of the new students, I presume. Your first day, and tardy all ready. How irresponsible." The condescending voice of the teacher rang out.

"Actually, maybe you should blame the poor layout of this school. Or Ms. Blond Beauty Queen who overreacted to me almost bumping into her. Overdramatic bitch. Wait, or would that be you, Ms…. Help me out here, would you…?" I asked, sarcasm dripping from each word. Don't blame me, I was annoyed and frustrated. I mean, I'd been to a great deal of new schools, but this one seemed to be built specifically confusing. Not to mention the map they gave me was wrong and misleading.

"Ms. Higglebom! A name you WILL respect! And I ought to report you to the principal, using such FOUL language! How dare you, young lady?"

"How _dare _I? How _DARE_ I? Really? That little outburst kind of proves my point. I think I'll just sit down right now out of mercy for you while you still have any shred of so-called 'respect' whatsoever. I refuse to get into a battle of wits with someone who is…clearly lacking. Oh, and another thing. I am no lady. I suggest you remember that." This lady clearly had issues.

You'd think that this was the first time anybody had ever talked back to her, and this was obviously shocking to her. She was left speechless.

_Good job Izzy. Mental pat on the back for you._

Really? I do not need this right now.

_Uh huh. You know you love me._

Yeah, sure.

_Don't deny the truth, honey. Now if you're done talking to yourself, Mr. Challenge from earlier is sitting in the back row smirking at you. Oh, and look, he nodded to the empty chair beside him._

Yeah, I know. I can see. Actually, the only way you'd be able to see is if I saw it first. So, ha.

_Why do I even bother._

Maybe you shouldn't. I'm going to ignore you now, and get back to real life.

Matching his smirk with one of my own, I strode over and plopped myself down. He winked at me and gestured towards our 'teacher'. I smirked knowingly.

"You know, I knew you were trouble when you walked in." Oh, so his voice matches his appearance. I felt a stupid urge to get him to talk again so I could savor his voice. Which sounded suspiciously stalkerish. Or even worse-average teenage girl-ish.

"Funny. I had pretty much the same thought." I appraised him. Then I waved my hand for the weirdly silent class to continue. All while Ms. Higglebom-what kind of name is that?-stood there, dumbstruck. What a Kodak moment.

**EdwardPOV**

"So, class, I guess you're free to go now. Don't forget to start on that report, students." This parting statement was met with groans and sighs from my peers, as what little hope they had that Mrs. Benson had not been serious when she assigned a 7-page long essay about the Civil War on the first day of school was thoroughly crushed. I was pretty sure that not one of the students in the class was looking forward to the kind of year where History would be taught by a tough teacher like Mrs. Benson. I was also pretty sure that that was what Mrs. Benson was striving for. I've always been fairly good at reading people, and right now I was sure that her plan was to start tough so that her students wouldn't disobey her in the future when she lightened up a bit to her usual teaching style.

While getting together all my stuff, and making a mental note to get Jasper to retell me everything about the Civil War, which happened to be the one education-related thing that he was genuinely passionate about, I wondered what the other History teacher was like, Ms. Higglebom. From what I had overheard, she was really strict, and 'needed to be taken down a notch or two'. I was glad I wasn't in her class.

On the way to my next class, Science, I noticed a certain pixie walking fairly close to me. The girl from the parking lot that Jasper had teased me about. While I've never really paid close attention to my female peers before, she had captured my full attention the moment I'd laid eyes on her. She was so delicate and yet seemed to have a vast reserve of inner strength. As I stated before, I have a sort of affinity for reading people. Although admittedly right now she just looked extremely annoyed.

"UGH! WHERE IS THIS CLASS!" she mumbled to herself. Alright, let's add frustrated. Even though I was having some trouble finding classes, she seemed to be suffering more so. In a probably misguided attempt to help her, as much as I, a fellow new student could hope to, I glanced at her schedule. Huh. She had a lot of the same classes as I did, including the next one.

"Um, hey. I kind of noticed that you're new like me, and we have the next class together. Well, two heads are better than one so…..how about we… stick together. I'm sure together we'll be able to find our way to the right room." Oh, great going, you sound like an idiot.

"…Sure! I guess that wouldn't hurt. Any idea where to start?" I had no idea. I was just glad she didn't think I was creepy or something like that. She was even more beautiful from up close. Especially when she smiled at me like that. I foolishly had a thought that I knew I would do almost anything to make her smile like that again. Maybe Forks wasn't completely horrible after all.


	5. Lunch

**Chapter 5: Lunch**

**AN/: So, I hope all the POV's aren't too confusing. My main two characters are supposed to be Bella/Izzy and Jasper, but I wanted to kind of get into the group's heads and decide what they were gonna be like, and to sort of introduce them without just having Izzy or Jasper randomly start thinking about all the semi-main characters or something like that. I'm gonna start dwindling on the others' POV's until I'm basically just writing in Izzy's POV with Jasper thrown in there, and possibly a dash of the others to taste. Sounds like my kind of story-recipe. But if it's hard to follow or anything, you can just tell me and I'll try to dwindle faster!**

**And now, on we go!**

* * *

><p><strong>Izzy POV<strong>

Lunch! Finally! Everything after the whole Ms. Higglebom thing was just insanely boring. Snore. Wow. I really am dramatic when I'm cranky, bored, and not to mention irritable and hungry. That sounds like a potential live bomb just waiting to explode. Well, at least I have food. Now where's a nice, empty table I can take over? Of course, while inner monologue-ing, if that's even a word, I already knew that there weren't any empty tables and that the next best thing was a table that seemed to consist of the blond queen from earlier, the muscle-y guy from the parking lot who was staring at her, and the kid with the weird hair accompanied by the petite girl. And looky there. My new challenge. Or, Jasper, as I had found out. He was sitting by the weird headed kid looking bored and eating. He was very aware of the entire room, but still managed to look like he was completely relaxed. He definitely had my respect. So I did what any sane person would do in my shoes. I walked over there and sat by him. After all, he had the perfect spot. You could watch the entrances and yet escape routes were easily accessible. And since the wall was about five feet behind you, nobody could attack from behind. Smart guy. Definitely smart.

Funny how they all ended up sitting together.

"Hey." Half-smile from Jasper, confused silence and exchanged looks from the others. I recognized them, but they obviously had no idea who I was, even though I had the buff guy in my second period class and both the girls in my third period. Then again, those teachers didn't really make a big deal out of new students, so they probably didn't really notice me. I was pretty good at blending in when I wanted to. And if any of the students tried to start a whisper-fest about me, a nice I-dare-you-to stare did the trick nicely. Rosalie, who had been looking in the other direction turned around, and noticed me. First a hint of recognition, a brief expression of shock and a little panic, and finally one of contempt and cool disgust.

"What's _she_ doing here?"

"I'm eating lunch. You know, that meal in between breakfast and dinner?"

"Yeah, but I meant why are you eating lunch _here."_

"Oh, I'm sorry, is this table reserved? No? Well is it illegal for me to eat here? I don't think so." And with this I turn away, effectively dismissing her. She looked a little offended, then humphed and turned away.

"Okay, so I know Blondie the Drama Queen over there from this morning, but other than Jasper here, I don't know any of your names. Care to share?"

"Um, yeah," Seems like the muscle guy is gonna introduce everybody. It's a good thing too. I can't keep referring to them in my mind like this. It's too unnecessary. "Well, I'm Emmett McCarty and 'Blondie the Drama Queen', as you call her," Small snicker from him. At least we know he has a sense of humor. Huff from her. Expected. "She's Rosalie, this kid on my right here, Edward, and the girl across from him is Alice. You know our names now, so what about you? Care to share?" I might just start to like this guy.

"Izzy. Except to you. Then that's Ms. Izzy. Just for using my words. Capische?"

"Yes, Ma'm" Smart ass.

At this point Jasper was just chuckling quietly next to me, Edward and Alice were continuing their conversation, Emmett was full on grinning, and Rosalie was just glaring at the chair across from her. What did the chair ever do to her? Chair abuse. Edward and Alice's conversation seemed interesting, so I listened in while eating my food. It seemed like Edward was telling Alice that he could usually tell pretty much what people were thinking, and the teacher did not hate her, but liked her instead, and was just being tough on her from the start to help her.

"Oh yeah, well then tell me what Emmett is thinking right now."Challenged the midge-I mean, Alice.

"Emmet's thinking about Rose. He likes her and thinks that she's really nice when she's not pretending to be mean." I guess it was lucky Rosalie couldn't hear. That would definitely embarrass her.

Alice looked for herself. Then changed her target."Okay then, Jasper." I saw Jasper's attention towards them increase just a little.

"Actually Jasper is the only person I've met that I can't really read. Pick again" Replies Edwardo. That's actually kind of interesting.

"How about Rosalie?"

"She's trying not to look bothered, but she's thinking about Emmett, too. She thinks he's cute and funny."

"Izzy, then." I mentally smirked. Nobody has ever really been able to read me. Except for…Jake, sort of. And my dad. And even they couldn't entirely tell what I was thinking. Great, now I was all depressed. Jasper looked at me with…worry? What was that about? Hm.

"I-I can't tell. Even less than Jasper, but then again, I know him better so it could be just that…I can guess what he's thinking, at times, but usually I can't get a read on him. Izzy, I just…can't even guess. Above that of the level you probably can." Heh heh. He seemed bothered.

"Well, that's good. I usually say what I'm thinking anyways, so if I want to share, trust me, I will. Whether you like or not. It's good to know I have some privacy." Oh, wait, they didn't think I was listening. Oopsie. Oh look who's coming. A fake blond who looks really dumb is headed our way with her entourage. I at least respected Rosalie for persevering in her hatred of me, but she, from first glance, is self-centered and thinks she rules the school with her heart of silicon. Fake. Definitely fake. Edward seemed extremely annoyed as soon as he saw the baby-faced boy with blond spikes for hair, and I'm tellin' you, I can't blame him. I got annoyed at just the sight of them. And I didn't even know them. It looks like Edward doesn't have the luxury.

"I'm, like, Lauren, and this is, like, Jessica, and, like, Mike Newton. Since you're like, new, I just wanted to like, warn you, if you like, cross us, we will, like, make you life here like, hell. This is, like, our school." Wow. Worse than I thought. Apparently she just noticed Jasper, Edward, and Emmett, because she leaned forward onto the table so that we all got a nasty shot of her fake boobs, batted her eyes in their direction, and stuck out her fake lips. I think she was trying to look sexy, but really, she just looked kind of like a constipated fish. With way too much makeup on. Not to mention really fake blond hair. Emmett made gagging motions as soon as she looked away, and Edward looked nauseated. Jasper looked like he was trying not to throw up in his mouth. If I wasn't so pissed at her, I would've laughed out loud at their expressions. Jasper's and Emmett's in particular. I mean, have you ever seen a body-builder looking giant of a guy and a cool, dangerous kind of guy look like that? It was hilarious.

"Well, _Lauren_, I don't think so. Why don't you just walk away before I punch that plastic nose of yours into your face?" I think my respect for Rosalie just shot up.

"And why don't you take your…what would you call those two, Rosalie? Definitely not people…" I was pretty sure she'd play along, if only to get rid of them.

"Hmmm, you're right, Izzy. Idiots?" Seems like I was right. After just a brief moment of shock and hesitation, she put a sneer on and went along.

"Nah, that would be an insult to idiots everywhere. Why don't you just take…those two…and crawl back into the hole you came from? By the way, I'm pretty sure you can't put us through hell. You see, I work there on weekends, and not the lame part with the CEO's and tax accountants, but the cool place with the murderers and thieves, and people like that. And I've definitely never heard of you. So why don't you just skedaddle?" I think Rosalie just looked at me with…was that grudging respect? Seems like I shot up some in her book, too.

Lauren and her cronies just made noises of indignation, spun on their heels and marched off. It would've been a fairly nice dramatic exit if her high heel hadn't broken off and she hadn't fallen flat on her face. At that, I couldn't hold it in anymore, and burst out laughing. I will admit I'm a little easily amused. She just stayed there and threw a tantrum, screaming, and floor-pounding complete. Luckily for her, the bell rang for the end of lunch, so her public embarrassment was cut short, although at this point, I'm pretty sure everyone had already seen her little fit. She was definitely not a threat.

I felt somebody watching me, and turned to see Jasper staring. He had an unreadable look on his face and didn't seem to be embarrassed in the least to be caught watching someone. Most people would be. I tried to figure out what he was thinking, but he was...confusing. I could see what Eddie-boy meant.

"Hey, Izzy." I reluctantly looked away to see Rosalie, looking casual but also a little uncomfortable. "Good, um, job. I guess."

"Yeah, nice work." She quickly looked away. Okay, so maybe she wasn't pure ice.

**AN/: This chapter is more of a lighter filler-thingy, although we did learn who Eddie boy can't read. Interesting, no? Although I guess it's kind of expected…still…..yeah.**


	6. One month later

**Chapter six: One month later**

**Izzy POV**

Well, my first month here was certainly interesting. I'd grown closer to Alice, Emmett, Edward, and even Rosalie, kind of. Especially Emmett, though. He was a character, all light-hearted. But not wimpy, he was kinda rough around the edges, but that just made him all the more awesome to me. He was almost a brother to me. Kind of like…no, don't think about Jake, Izzy. Don't go down that road again. Anyway, I'd never been really good with my own gender, but Rosalie and Alice were probably the closest I've ever gotten to having 'girlfriends'. Rosalie and I had a kind of unspoken bond of mutual respect, and I liked her. She was kind of cool under her shell. I'd even gotten her to smile once. It was small, but it was definitely a smile. Alice, on the other hand was…well, she was different. She was kind of like…bubbly water with a maybe a shot of tequila. And with a hint of something sour there, too. She could sometimes act like a spoiled brat, especially about fashion, but otherwise she was nice and likeable. But she definitely had a rougher side, one that she tried to keep covered up.

In fact, I was pretty sure that everyone in our little group had something they were hiding. Huh, I guess we definitely have that in common. It made things more interesting. Like how Alice distances herself sometimes, and her eyes glaze over, and then she and Edward will have some whispered conversation. Or like how the subject of alcohol can really set Emmett off or how Rosalie seems ultra-aware, almost paranoid, about guys that she doesn't know. Actually just about every guy except for Emmett, Edward and Jasper. Oh, Jasper. Now, he definitely interested me. I mean, he was really intriguing, how he was always sort of tense in a relaxed-looking way, periodically scanning the room. Of course, I knew those motions all too well, but it wasn't just that. I wanted to know…everything about him. Why he always smirked like he had his own thing goin' on, how he viewed the world. What he looked like when he laughed. Wow, I really sound like some obsessed idiot. Don't start getting all that close to any of them, Izzy. Remember what happens to people you get closed to. But even as I thought this, I knew it was kind of too late.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"Hey Izzy!" And there's Emmett.

"Hey. So, what kinda trouble have ya been getting' into now, Emmett?"

"What? I am offended! Why do you always expect me to be in trouble?"Oh, please. Like he didn't know.

"Hmm, maybe because you always are?"

"Touché."

"Since when do you speak French, Emmett?"

"Huh. Touché." He said, a twinkle in his eye, dimples showing. He was insufferable. But in a truly Emmett way.

"So…you're pretty much good friends with Rose, right?" Ha! I knew this was coming. "Hey, you don't have to smile all knowingly-evil like, Izzy. I know you know that I…kinda' like her."

"That's an understatement. Obsessed is more like it."

"Shut up! Anyway, I was kind of thinking of asking her…you know, to go out, with me, on a date. So, do you think I have a chance?" Huh, he looked like he was really insecure about this. He shouldn't be.

"Well, judging by the way she looks at you when she thinks no one's looking? She's equally obsessed about you."

"Really? Wow that's…that's amazing. Wait, how do you know these things? That's kind of creepy, you know. I swear, there's more than a little of devil in you, Iz." He he. He didn't even know half of it. "So…how should I ask her? I've never liked someone as special as her…and something tells me I've gotta ask in just the right way."

"Humph! You've got that right. Well, it has to be at a good moment too. I think, you should ask in a way that's kind of perfect in an understated way. Maybe make her laugh and feel really good first. Knowing Rosalie, it has to be nice, but not entirely overdone." I hoped I had given him the right advice. With Rosalie, it was always hard to tell.

"Alright, I sure hope she says yes." I knew she probably would. Well, she wouldn't say no. But something told me that if he didn't ask in just the right way she wouldn't accept until he did.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

I slung a towel across my shoulders and took a drink out of my water bottle. I had just finished working out/training. I couldn't just become weak, now could I? I had to make sure I was ready for anything. Especially now that I made friends. If _they_ found out, they'd definitely use my friends against me.

I knew that someone was there before they rang the doorbell. I vaulted up the stairs from my basement/gym area, and opened the door, prepared for an attack. I never got anyone over.

"Hey Izzy! Whoa, why are you all sweaty?" Alice. I breathed a sigh of relief. But, wait, how-

"Don't ask how she knows where you live. She showed up at my house, made me get in her car and took me here. I've been trying to figure out how she figured out where my place is, but she just looks all mysterious and smiles. Seriously, she's creeping me out."

"Oh, hey Rosalie. What are you doing here then, Alice, and why did you kidnap her?" I asked the little elf, still a little suspicious.

"Well, it's Saturday! I thought we could have a girls' night!" Was she out of her mind?

"Alice, I'm not really a girls' night kind of girl. You should know that by now. Second of all, if we're gonna have a girls' night here, you might find it kinda hard. I don't even own a TV."

"I know, I know! That's why I brought my own mini TV!" She owns a mini TV? "Also, too bad. We're going to have a girls' night! Right now! I brought snacks and everything!" Rosalie just rolled her eyes at me, clearly expressing that she knew Alice would eventually convince us, and we should just let her play this out now, instead of wasting energy arguing with her. I had to agree. Alice was Alice.

"Fine, fine. Come on in," I sighed, opening the door wider for them to come in, "I'm gonna go take a shower. You can go do…whatever it is you're gonna do." This was gonna be interestin'.


	7. Girls Night?

**Chapter 7: Girls' Night?**

**Izzy POV**

"So…how do we start this thing?" Rosalie asked. Apparently she hadn't been to too many of these either.

"Yeah…you seem to be the expert."I agreed.

"Well, I wouldn't say expert…but I did have a few of these in New York. A lot of those had to do with fashion, though. And since you begged me not to include you in my fashion mania for a while, I guess we can start with movies." Only Alice can manage to work her fashion obsession, a bit of spoiled brattiness, and a bit of bragging in just a few sentences that actually kind of answer my question.

"Ooh, what did you bring?" Rosalie said, seeming to get a little more excited. I hoped they weren't all chick flicks. I never really got those.

"CHICK FLICKS!" squealed Alice. Of course.

"Ugh, didn't you bring _anything_ else?" I groaned, "Maybe something with a _little _action? I hate chick flicks! I could even go with history, or sometimes documentaries, but _chick flicks?_"

"Hey! Don't antagonize me! We're watching a chick flick. Now do you want _The Notebook,_ girls' night standard, which I brought a lot of, or one of the others? I have_ Sleepless in Seattle, Miss Congeniality, Legally Blond, _ooh, _10 Things I Hate About You, P.S I Love You, Sweet Home Alabama, Charlie's Angels,_ of course, and a new one called _The Vow_. Which do you guys want?" After Alice's word vomit episode, Rosalie and I just kind of looked at each other in surprise.

"Wow, Alice, when you said you brought everything, I didn't know you were _armed_ with these things." I said, still shocked. Of all of those movies, I had seen a big fat total of zero. So I turned to Rosalie to make our entertainment choice. I trusted her to let us watch something not absolutely horrible.

"Um, Alice? I haven't seen _The Vow_. Maybe we could watch that?" Rosalie suggested, clearly afraid she'd set Alice off into another episode of bouncing, squealing, and talking at lightning-fast speeds.

"Okay! I'll go make some popcorn. You do have a microwave, right?" she asked. I couldn't tell if she was just kidding or a weird, excited version of serious. This was uncharted territory for me. From the moment Alice showed up talking about a girls' night, I had started flying blind, something I hated to do. This was all new to me.

As soon as Alice bounded off go make popcorn, Rosalie said, "Well that was weird, wasn't it?"

"You're tellin' me. Is something wrong with her? She seems…overly excited, even for Alice."

"I don't know. But, I guess, if this is what she needs, we'll have to get it over with."

"Yeah. So…Emmett." I said, in a slightly teasing tone. Rosalie blushed, something I've never seen her do before. Just a hint, but there.

"What about him?" Trying to play stupid, now are we?

"What do you mean, what about Emmett? You like him."

"Maybe."

"Oh come on, you know you do."

"Okay, fine, I'll admit, I do like him. There. I admitted it." That's what I thought.

"So, if he, like, say, asked you out on a date? Would you accept?" She smiled. Whoa. Just a little one, but definitely there. "First blushing, now smiling? I'm guessing that's a yes…"I teased even more.

"Probably. Of course, he'd have to ask in a nice way." Nailed it. "Why? Did he tell you anything?"

"Why would he tell me?" I asked, trying to play it cool, while still clueing her in.

"Oh. I get it," she said, obviously, well, getting it. "Okay, that's cool. I guess I'll just have to wait and see."

"I guess so, Rosalie. I guess so."

"You should call me Rose. Rosalie sounds so uptight."

"So! What were you two talking about while I was gone?"Alice asked, bounding towards us, yet somehow not spilling a single kernel of the huge bowl of popcorn she held.

"Nothing!" we said in unison, sharing a conspirational smile. Even if this night sucked in an extremely girly way, at least Rose and I got something out of it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"What was that?"

"What? I didn't hear anything! You're probably paranoid! Let's get back to the movie, come on!"

"No…somebody's coming. I can hear the tires on my driveway."

"So that's why you've got gravel!" Wow, sarcasm much, Alice? "I don't know. I really don't hear anything!"

"Nope. Someone is coming. Just wait and see." I stood up, discreetly pulling out one of the knives I always kept with me and cupping it in my hand so as not to alert Alice and Rose. Like I said, I never got anyone over.And there's the doorbell. Looks like I'll find out who it is real soon. I opened the door cautiously, and then relaxed slightly.

"Surprised to see us, Izzybites?"


	8. The Party Crashers

**Chapter 8: The "Party" Crashers**

"Not at all, Emmybear." It was Emmett, Edward, and Jasper. Of course it was them. I slid my knife surreptitiously back up my sleeve. Noticing Jasper's sharp eyes watching me, I nonchalantly said, "Trying to crash Girls' Night?"

"Uhhh-huhhhh. You know it. You're welcome. But Emmybear? Really?"

"You called me Izzybites."

"True. Okay then. Did we interrupt some…girl on girl action? Because I'd be more than happy to sit quietly in a corner…"He suggestively said, wiggling his eyebrows demonically.

"Oh shut up, Emmett!" yelled Alice. Ha. Told her so. "What are you guys doing here?"

"He just showed up at our door with the creepiest grin on his face and told us to go with him. Newton was being especially annoying, so we decided what the hell. He told us to tell the parental units we were gonna go hang out with him, and we'd probably crash over at his tonight…of course, we had no idea where he'd actually take us. What in the world, Emmett?" Edward explained.

"You guys have to live with Newton? Man, I feel so sorry for you."

"Yep."

"Izzyers! Can please crash here tonight? I didn't really think this through…" Emmett said, with no regret at all.

"…Fine. But don't go in the basement, kay? Off limits." He looked a little suspicious at that, but quickly agreed. I was pretty sure he just wanted to spend more time with Rose. I opened the door a little wider so that they could file on in, and gestured for them to hurry up. It was starting to snow a little outside. Huh. Forks.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"Seriously? You seriously do not own a T.V?"Emmet seemed so baffled.

"No. I don't." We were watching another chick flick, but only Alice seemed really into it. Rose was half watching and half listening to our conversation.

"Then how do you watch movies?"

"I don't usually."

"WHAT? That's crazy."

"You're crazy."

"I know I am. Crazy awesome." Wow, Emmett. Wow. I got up and went to one of the few windows in my house. The snow was really coming down. I didn't think I'd ever seen that much snowfall at this time of year. At this rate, we'd actually be snowed in.

"Hey, guys. Maybe you should call you parents and stuff. I don't think anybody's gonna be able to drive tomorrow."

"My mom's on a business trip. She wouldn't care anyway," Rose grumbled.

"Same," Alice agreed, seemingly sobered up from her sappy romance coma.

"Eh, my Nonna won't worry. She'll understand." Emmet seemed unconcerned.

"I'll go call our mom," Edward told Jasper, before walking off to make his phone call. Jasper nodded absentmindedly and went back to whatever he was contemplating before.

"Hey, Izzmeister. Where's your supervisors?" I tensed a little.

"I'm emancipated. I don't technically have to have supervisors."

"So you live here by yourself? Pretty awesome." I nodded strictly, and changed the subject. Jasper was watching me again.

"Yeah, so um, what? Did you just decide to come crash Alice's little get together? How did you even know, anyways? Rose and I didn't even know."

"Oh, I have my ways," he said, loving the fake mysterious air he was putting on.

"He was lurking in the shop when I bought the snacks, so I told him." Alice remarked. Emmett looked put out, now that the 'effect was ruined'.

Later on, when everybody had fallen asleep, I got up and strode soundlessly over to a small room that looked like a closet by the door, and armed my security systems, just to be sure. I started walking back, when I realized that Jasper was awake. And watching me. Again. I nodded to him and went back to my place beside Emmett, who was snoring deeply on my couch. I propped my legs up on his giant body and laid down. I stared at the ceiling for awhile, not able to relax.

"Night, Izzy," Jasper finally said after a long silence. I could hear him shuffle around a little to find a more comfortable position, and finally, his long, even breaths, signaling that he had fallen asleep. After a while, I too fell into a slumber. Although I knew that mine, and his, too, were just light enough to be woken up at the first sound of danger.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

I woke up at the same time as Jasper. We both stretched, and softly stood. It was actually kind of creepy how in synch our movements were. I guessed he thought of the same thing, because he smirked softly, and turned to make eye contact with me.

"Well, good mornin'."

"Yeah. Mornin'." He smiled a bit and looked around. Breaking the silence, I suggested, "So um, you can use my bathroom, down the hall, to the left, and there should be a whole bunch of extra toothbrushes under the sink." He raised an eyebrow. "I buy in bulk," I replied, shrugging with a half-grin.

He ambled off, running a hand through his hair, while I tried to figure out what I should do. Usually on weekends, I just trained most of the day. But with my friends here I didn't really know. I guess I'd have to wait for them to wake up. I knew that most people didn't get up at 5:30 on a Sunday, but that's when I always woke up. And apparently, Jasper, too. They'd most likely sleep in a bit, especially since we stayed up pretty late last night…I thought I had some time to train while I wait. But what about Jasper? Eh. He can take care of himself. I'm sure he'll think of something…

Resolved, I headed downstairs to my basement, where, conveniently I had another bathroom, since I spent so much time down there, and I always showered after practicing. After going through my usual morning routine, I changed into my usual training clothes and walked back out, putting my hair into a ponytail. To my surprise, Jasper was standing in front of the door. He was the only one who had successfully snuck up on me since…ever. My respect for him as a fellow fighter grew.

He just stood there, smiling, so I semi-awkwardly made my way past him.

"Need a sparring partner?" he asked, sidling up next to me. Hmm. I hadn't sparred with someone in a while. There was nobody I trusted enough.

"Sure. Lay it on me." It was part challenge, part statement. He walked out past me a bit, and turned, taking his stance. We started circling, each trying to gauge strengths and weaknesses. Then, I noticed that he shifted just slightly, right before he lunged forward. I dodged, and we began. We were probably as evenly matched as it could get, and it became less of a fight and more of an elaborate dance, with each of us almost getting a hold of each other, and functioning on instinct and adrenaline. There wasn't a lot of actual aggression, though, and it was…fun. We were both having the time of our lives. I hadn't fought anybody I couldn't beat easily enough for as long as I could remember. It was great. It was fantastic. He finally took me down, but I swept my leg under both of his while on my way, so that he landed on top of me. Well, he would've, but he caught himself just in time to avoid crushing me. We were both grinning, and panting, and sweaty, and about to get up and call it the draw it was when we both tensed and looked towards the stairs, just before the rest of our group came down the stairs slowly. They had clearly just woken up, probably from the noise we were making, and come to investigate.

"Izzy? Jasper? Whoa…were we interrupting something?" What does Emmett-? Oh. I guess this position is kind of awkward…

Jasper got up and offered me a hand, which I took, pulling myself back to a vertical position. "We were sparring."

"Sparring? Why-what is this place?" Uh oh…I really don't feel like explaining all this, but I guess I'll have to.

"Why don't we go upstairs and I'll tell you."


	9. Explanations

Chapter 9: Explanations

**Izzy POV**

Jasper and I shared a look. He knew at least part of what I was going to say, and I think he knew some of the rest as well. He probably at least knew that it wasn't exactly flowers and sunshine. Everybody else was staring expectantly at me, especially Emmett. I guess I should just get it over with.

"I dunno where to start…" I said, speaking the truth. Where should I start? Still just staring. Okay then. Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning.

"I guess I'll start with…when I was six years old. My dad was a the chief of police at a little town in the country, where not much happened. He still worked the field, because that's what he loved. Again, not much happened, so it wasn't exactly a high-risk job. But one day, I just knew something bad was gonna happen, and I begged him not to go. He did anyway, and he was shot. He'd stopped at a corner convenience store, and this guy came in with a gun, wanting the money from the cash register. He was a cop, he had to stop it, but instead he got himself killed. His partner got the guy, just a no-good small time robber. But it didn't change the fact that he was dead. My mom went through her grief in her own way. She moved us to Arizona, and for awhile she didn't really do anything but lay there, unresponsive. At first, she would at least microwave something for me and get up on Saturday morning to pay the bills, but then she stopped. I was young, but I knew that it wasn't normal. I knew that if the bills didn't get paid, we would be in trouble. I knew how to microwave, of course, so I made her soup and spoon-fed her in bed.

Thank god Charlie, my dad, had stockpiled a whole bunch of cans in case of emergency. And thank god he had life insurance. I know that sounds bad, but it kept us alive. The grocers thought it was weird a little kid was goin in there and buying a whole cartful of soup, but I could walk, and I would return the carts in the mornin'. Charlie had set up something where if we didn't or couldn't pay our bills, it would automatically take money from his accounts to take care of us, so I didn't have to worry about that. Eventually though, the life insurance ran out, and Charlie was a cop, he wasn't rich. It started to run out when I was about ten, so I babysat as much as I could. I had started school when my mom wasn't as bad, so I just kept going. It was hard, but I made it work. But then it got worse. My mom stopped laying around all day and started partying. Hard.

She would drink all the time and bring home random guys. She was a happy drunk, but sometimes her hookups weren't. I learned to stay out of the house when they were there. I functioned as much as I could, but the money didn't last forever, especially with her drinking it away. I had to find another source of income. I got a job, but it was minimum wage and didn't pay enough for her habits. One day I was out on the streets, because one of her regular guys was at the house, and this guy that looked about fifteen was out with his friends, seeming all hyped up. Long story short, that was when I discovered the Ring. Really, it was street fighting, and I didn't think it was real, just on T.V., but it was, and I could make money. They thought I'd be dead for sure at the first round, even at the lowest level, just cuz I was young, but I needed the money, and I won. People liked seeing big dudes get taken down by a little girl, and they paid well. 'Course, the big dudes didn't like it, so I invested in some weapons. I lived like this a while until my childhood friend, Jake, who also got into it after his dad and him got in a fight, got killed.

He died cuz one the guys I beat wanted to get to me. And you know what? He did. My mom had been getting worse, and I didn't know what to do, 'till one of her hookups killed her. I swear, death followed me wherever. The guy was one of the nastiest son of a bitches ever. He said he was coming for me, but the police didn't believe me, and they just arrested him. But he's got friends, and I've got a lot of other enemies, so I started moving around a lot. I'm pretty sure I lost 'em maybe a few months ago, before I moved here, but you never know, so I still train a lot. I was damn good at fighting, and I don't want 'em to catch me off guard. So that's what the basement is for." By the time I finished, there was dead silence. "Look, I just want you to know, if they ever came after me, and knew that I was close to you people, they'd probably try to kill you. So, you guys can just pretend you never knew me from now on, if you want." Thought I'd give them fair warning. Still, complete silence.

Jasper was staring at me with an unreadable expression, eyes dark and clouded over. Edward looked frozen in shock, Alice just looked like she already knew all this, but was still sad that it happened, Rose looked like she was far off in the distance, like something I said had reminded her of something bad. And Emmett looked the angriest I'd ever seen him. He looked like he was gonna explode. I started feeling a bit uneasy with all that silence, so I stood up and started walking toward the kitchen. Hmmm. I was feeling a little munchy. They followed me in there, and watched as I made myself a bowl of cereal.

"So spilling out your life secrets that, by the way, were really depressing, makes you hungry?" Emmett asked, face stormy.

"…Yeah, that's pretty much it." I didn't like to talk about it.

"And you think we're gonna abandon you because of them."

"Yeah, that's it too."

"I've questioned your sanity a whole bunch of time before, Izzy, but now I might really think you're insane."

"What do you mean?"Is that just Emmett-speak for something that I don't know?

"Well, you've always seemed different, but I didn't know…"

"Yeah, Emmett. That's kind of the point of not telling you. See? I knew you'd be all different. I shouldn't have told you anything." I was kind of pissed. Not at him, but because I knew that now he wouldn't be Emmett around me anymore. And I caused that.

"Nah, Izz-Possible. I don't think so." Well, I hope so. Oh, now it's getting too serious. Deflect. Deflect.

"Hey, Rose, you okay?" She still looked out of it.

"Umm, yeah." I was pretty sure everybody could tell she wasn't but I dropped it.

"Well, okay."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

So after I dropped that bombshell, it did get a little awkward. I guess they had to think it through or something, though Jasper seemed the most normal. My guess was that he had expected something like that, and so, got over it more quickly. He'd probably witnessed similar. We'd all kind of done our own thing. This house was previously owned by a family, until they decided to move and I bought it from them. I still did some street fighting, and it paid well. I just had to be a lot more careful. But I guess I'd become a bit of a legend. I never gave my name, but I did have a pretty distinguishing tattoo on my shoulder blade that was pretty visible when I fought, since I wore a tank top. Otherwise, you can get overheated and stuff. Also, baggy clothing can be an opponent's advantage, and can get in the way of your movement.

Hmmm…I haven't checked on Rose in a while. It's almost dark. Despite her claims that she was fine, I knew that she was shaken up. Right now she was holed up in one of the empty bedrooms that I didn't care to furnish. I stood silently at the doorway as she cried her eyes out. Crying people make me uncomfortable, but she clearly needed comforting. I hesitantly walked over and patted her back awkwardly. She started sobbing even harder. What do I do? I am not good at comforting people. I just kept on patting.

Thankfully, before too long, Emmett was walking by the room at just the right moment, and seeing Rose in tears, immediately walked over and gave her a hug, letting her cry on him. He started murmuring to her that she was fine, and it was alright. He clearly didn't know what was going on, but the way he automatically comforted her let me know that they really were pretty awesome for each other, and he really did really like her. I mean, it was pretty much instinct for him. I, still awkwardly, patted her hair.

It wasn't a huge house, and eventually everybody made their way up there. With the door open, they could see what was happening. Jasper had snuck in quietly and started awkwardly rubbing her back, obviously as not good with open displays of sadness as I was, but he seemed genuinely concerned. Edward and Alice just kind of appeared, and Alice, again, seemed to know just when to show up, and that this would happen. I would have to ask her how, later. Rose's sobs were slowly subsiding, giving way to slight hiccupping. Emmett was still rocking her gently back and forth, and she seemed to have a death grip on his shirt. It kind of felt like a private moment, and that made me feel even more awkward. But she was my friend, so I was concerned for her. After a while, I asked her, "What's wrong?", and she let go of Emmett, and spun slowly around to face us.

"Well, it just…"

**Rose POV:**

I hated them seeing me like this, but there was no use pretending it didn't happen. I didn't like telling anybody my story, because afterwards, they looked at me differently. Like, a kicked puppy, or something fragile that could break any second. I hated being seen as a victim, period. But I also wanted them to know, so I wouldn't have to hide it. "It's just…when Izzy said the part about her mom's hookups…it reminded me of my dad.

You know my mom is always away on business trips, but that's how she manages it...my dad, um, he…he hit her. It was horrible. I would try to stop it, but he would just brush me off, until this one time, I guess he finally saw me as old enough to be some trouble, and he turned around, and started hitting _me._ His eyes…they were so cold and dark, but just…blazing with anger, and it scared me so much. My mom was just laying there, and she kind of sat up and stared at my dad hitting me, but she didn't say anything, or move. I'd always tried to help her, but she didn't even say anything to defend me.

Not…not even…when…he...started to rape me." The memories were rushing up again, and I stopped talking, and started quietly sobbing again. Emmett tried to comfort me, but I just wiped away the tears and started back up again. I had to finish the story or I would implode. "When he was…um…doing that, I knocked over something and the neighbors heard a disturbance and called 911. The police came and saw my mom all bruised up, and my dad standing over me. They told me I was all bloody, and half-unconscious when they took me away. Thankfully he's in jail now. But instead of confronting the situation, at all, my mom threw herself into work. So she's never around, and I just had to try to get through it on my own." And now I turned to Emmett's arms, and broke down crying. I could never forget my dad's face, looming over me, filled with rage and hate.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

After my crying had subsided a bit, I wiped my face as well as I could, and turned to face my friends, embarrassed. "Sorry about that, I just…well, yeah." I looked around, prepared to see them all looking at me with pity, or something like that. But all I saw were people who cared about me, and wished it hadn't happened to me, but knew that it didn't define me. I saw Emmett, eyes dark and looking like he hated my dad with everything he had, but as soon as he saw me looking at him, his eyes softened, and he smiled a sad kind of smile. I saw Izzy staring at me with a kind of respect and understanding. "I-I get that my story is sad, but I just wanted to say, I am not a victim, okay? I'm just…"Unsure, I trailed off.

"A survivor. It doesn't make you weak, it makes you strong, right?" Izzy seemed uncertain, probably because of all the tears, but she was the first to speak after I had, and she came over and put her hand on my shoulder. "Rose, you're one of the strongest people I have ever met, and I'm glad you're my friend, as cheesy as it sounds." It did sound cheesy, but I didn't care, it was nice.

"Thanks." She nodded, and I leaned over onto her shoulder, exhausted. She'd implied that she'd weathered beatings, so, she understood what I was going through probably the most. The most that I could tell, anyway. I could never read Jasper, or even Emmett sometimes…I really need to stop thinking. It's giving me a headache.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

**Izzy POV**

Well this is depressing. It'd been a while, in fact it was the middle of the night now. Rose had recovered and all the sappiness was pretty much gone. But we were still just sitting on the floor.

"Hey, um, I'm getting all depressed and stuff, so…who wants change the topic?" Emmett raised his hand like we were in grade school. Everybody else slowly followed his lead. This is kinda awkward. Which, I guess is better than depressing. "Soooo…hey Emmett, what's the biggest prank you've ever pulled?"

"Oh, so you just assume I like to pull pranks," he snarked back.

"Then you don't pull pranks?" I knew he did, I just knew that he could never back down from a challenge.

"Of course I do. Well, what do you mean by biggest…."

The rest of the day passed by with witty banter and funny stories. Even Jasper joined in, talking about stupid things that Edward had done over the years. Finally, they had to all go home, as the weird snow had pretty much all melted away. This might've been a drama filled day, but it ended pretty well, I guess.


	10. Dream

**Chapter 10: Weird Dream**

**Izzy POV**

Ever since Rose and I had spilled our stories, I had felt a little insecure, which was unusual for me. I felt that at any moment my friends would decide I was too dangerous and leave me. It didn't seem like that was gonna happen, but I just had this fear, however irrational it might be. However, my attention today wasn't as much on anything but the weirdest dream I had last night. This one was scarily vivid, almost like a memory, but to my knowledge, I had never experienced it before.

_I hate it here. Everybody is watching my every move, even when I'm resting. My former life was fading fast, but I could remember that I was happy. One memory is still fixed in my mind, when I'm in the backyard with my best friend, as children, and we're playing with toy swords, just pretending. But now I'm in a cruel, cruel place. They make us fight each other until one of us gets a limb torn off, and they keep score of who does well. Surprisingly, I have done well so far, but that's because I am the only one who can think straight. _

_Everybody else is crazed with ferocity, and while it makes them determined, it doesn't let them fight smartly. But I think that since it seems like I am the odd one out, They're all waiting for me to break or something. I am doing well, but I am different. I am trying to stay two steps ahead of them, and keep on guard, in case They decide that I am too different to keep around. The ones who do poorly too many times in a row get sent away, and they don't come back. I hear them screaming, and that terrible, terrible screeching sound, not to mention the sickly sweet smell of the fires that they are tossed into. The others are not bothered; they are too lost in their wildness. _

_There is a female instructor, and every day They take us outside in the wood and she "teaches" us basic lessons. Every new lesson means a new scar for me. At least I only get scars, unlike the others. They have little patience around here. My difference has helped me so far. I overheard some of Them whispering, almost too low to hear, too low for one of the others to hear, that they never expected me to come this far. I have noticed that there are not a lot of females around here. The ones that are seem especially tough. Sure, They keep a few of the "especially pretty" ones around as "playtoys", which disgusts me, and fills me with sympathy, but the ones that fight have a hard kind of look in their eyes. I probably do not seem like I can hold my own. I am very slight, and petite. But I have always known how to take care of myself. I have always been a kind of tough. I wonder what They want us to do today, because it is past the normal time for them to take us out. Oh, look, They are coming._

_This is different. Instead of our usual female instructor, it seems that there is a male, instead. Hm, he looks familiar…oh, what am I thinking, how would I recognize any of Them? He identifies himself as Major Jasper Whitlock. Oh, so he is the famed Major we have all heard about. He is tall, and blond, and handsome, although all of Us are a certain degree. Still, he is good-looking. He says that our usual instructor is…indisposed…ahh, so she was killed. I am thankful that we have not had to be in a real battle yet. He says that he is going to "evaluate" us by making us fight each other, but as a group, and not one-on-one. Oh no, this can't be good. At least we won't actually die, he says that when we lose a limb, we are out. No exceptions. I can tell that it will be hard to get some of the others to stop, though. Oh, one of them is trying to attack him! Wow, she didn't even get far at all. He is very on top of things. Well, if he skyrocketed up the ranks like I have heard, and if he really is that good, he would be. They tell us stories of him to scare us, sometimes. The others seem to have learned to listen to him. Okay, I guess we will now begin. _

_As usual, I used my ability to think rationally and my instincts, that seem to be heightened more than theirs, against them, although I was lucky so far and have not been ambushed. I finished tearing off a skinnier male's arm, and turned around. Oh crap. It's an ambush. Of course. If I wasn't in this actual situation I would appreciate the irony. It's a good thing that you have an enlarged brain, Isabella, or all this thinking and commentary would have caused your death by now. The remaining five are all focusing their attention on me. _

_Good, use your speed, Isabella. They can't dismember what they can't catch._

_It's not like anybody's gonna save me now. I have to save myself._

_Remember, you've got something they don't, Isabella. You've just gotta keep your eyes open. Can't let Them see you fall off your game now. You see Them watching, waiting for you to finally be broken. The five are circling you, but keep your feet ready, and you're breathing nice and steady, never know when they might attack._

_ I could subconsciously sense their movements, and kept shifting my stance accordingly. Use all your senses, and your instinct, too. . I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could feel the one on my right, the one with a scar around his ear from having it bitten off, tensing to spring, and the world seemed to go into slow motion as he sprung, allowing me to duck under him so that he landed on empty air. The one that was behind me, the brawny one turned towards me with a ferocious look on his face, but I dodged aside as he was mid-charge. Those two both fought like bears, charging, and letting sheer force do their work for them, like the majority of the others, but my fighting was more ducking and dodging, until the opportunity to strike presents itself. And when it did, I took it, but was sure to be spot-on precise, like a viper. I made sure of it. _

_The third one, the one with the little mustache waited for the other two to get out of his way before trying to pounce on me like a panther, but I feinted to the left and dodged out of the way again, turning around briefly to yank his arm out of its socket. He was out. He tried to lunge at me again, but one of Them dragged him out before he could. _

_One down, four to go. _

_Brawny, looking more irritated than ever lunged. He and the other one would be easy, since I didn't have to watch out for Little Mustache, the one that had seemed like the most dangerous out of them. As he lunged, I pivoted slightly on my right foot so that he went right past me, but caught hold of his left arm and gave it a yank, letting his momentum aid me in the tearing off of his limb. He was out. Now Ear Scar was next. He started towards me, but I didn't let him get that far. I met him in the middle and yanked his head clean off his shoulders, his venom spraying all over me, and the terrible screeching sound ringing out, sounding instead like music to my ears. _

_I could be sadistic, if I had to be. I could feel the deadly side of me coming through, as I turned my attention to the other two, but I pushed it down. I didn't know what would happen if I let it through, or let it take over, but I knew it would not be good. I glanced over the two others left. They had hung back, letting the others do the work, clearly not expecting for me to defeat them. They looked slightly more wary, but the Normal Newbie nature came out in them, and they started towards me simultaneously. I sped forward, before they could close the gap and create a front of sorts.__The one on my left was a red-headed female, and I caught her by her hair and detached her head with a cold sort of precision before turning and leaping onto the last one's shoulders and relieving him, too of his head. I dropped it next to his body, and turned away. I wasn't exactly sure what to do so I walked to the center of the clearing we were in and stood there arms at my sides and stance tense in case They decided to provide me with a new threat. Instead, there was silence. _

_I heard a murmur in the back of the ring they had formed around our fight that sounded like "I haven't seen a newbie do that good since…since the Major." That shocked me a just a little bit, but I regained my composure so quickly, there was only a fraction of a second of chink in my armor. I shouldn't be able to hear that. It was clear that Normals couldn't, I guess that's just part of my difference. But…the Major seemed to have heard it too. There was a brief flash of something in his eyes, humor was the wrong word for it, a kind of amused pondering or contemptuous analyzing of a challenge, maybe, barely there, but I had seen it. The great Major, the heartless bastard who struck fear into all of Their dead hearts, the one that had once decimated an entire army of trained Newbies by himself. The man who's rampages in his Newbie year had caused him to escape and decimated an entire town or two. Was he…smirking? Yes, that was definitely a smirk I saw on his lips. _

_I don't think he had truly smile in a while, so I guess this was a huge response to get out of him, at least not on the anger side of the spectrum. My deadly side smirked inside of me at the sight of him, and…was that a purr? _

_That's not weird at all….note the heavy sarcasm. _

_Now that I was relatively safer, looks like the commentary is back in full force. Anyway, the Major started pacing slowly towards me, almost like he was stalking his prey, and I instinctively tensed, warning him with my eyes to not come any closer. He ignored my glare and continued towards me. His smirk grew even wider, and while a soft but steady growl came out of my lips, my dark side, the part of me I kept inside urged me to go to him. That's really freaky. She had been a part of me ever since I woke to this new life, this new body, and I had no idea what exactly to she was, but she was there, and she was definitely dangerous in a lethal way, and yet she was more primal that I was. He was within arm's reach now, and my growl had gone up in volume a couple notches. He changed his course so he was circling me, like the five others had done earlier, and he started to speak._

"_You know,…"_

_His voice was smooth and rich, but with a coarse, manly rumble to it, like warm honey poured over gravel and sawdust. He was close enough so that I could see every scar on his skin, and I could tell that his scent was the same, like sawdust and honey, and newly turned soil, and the straw in the summer sun, but with a deeper manliness to him. There was no mistaking the masculinity about him. He had an accent, like many here, but it was more familiar. We were in the remotest part of Texas, so lots of the other Newbies had accents to match, but his was different…Texan, definitely, but more like he had grown up on a farm, fairly isolated, rather than in the big cities where They liked to "recruit". I had a faint recollection of having been born and growing up somewhere in a small Texan town where the people had an accent like that…Focus, Isabella. Focus. It's okay when only a portion of your brain is dedicated to this commentary, but you are starting to lose focus, like when you first came into this new brain. You have to control yourself, and focus. He was on his third round, and I was relieved to find that the portion of brain dedicated to monitoring and survival was still at play, as my stance automatically shifted once more. He had gotten closer, and I had gotten tenser. The growl had stopped, but I was prepared to dodge any strike he threw my way. _

_He leaned in close, and murmured, so that nobody else could hear, "I like you, Newbie."_

_And then he simply strode away, as casually as one can be in a place like this. I held my body still and tense enough to spring for a moment, before I slowly relaxed. Not completely, of course, but back to my normal state. The ring that They had formed slowly dispersed, disappointed that nothing big had happened, at least to their knowledge. I knew, for a fact, that that was not normal_

I woke up at this point, a little freaked out. Why was _Jasper_, of all people, in my dream? And what had I been? I had a lot of questions buzzing around in my head, but I shook them away. No sense wasting time speculating about a dream, after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

I got to school early, as I had been every day for a while, to hang around with my friends. When I got there, they had all already gathered together near Alice's car. I paused for a moment and reran what I had just thought in my head. Wow, I had mellowed out a little, if not a lot since I got here. That seemed…normal. Huh. Anyway, I could tell that they were whispering about some dream that Rose had, one that seemed to have taken place in the past, but wasn't an actual memory of hers, even though it seemed like it. It seemed insanely real. Huh. That's weird. Must be a coincidence. Too bad I don't believe in coincidences.

**AN/: Seems like strange things are starting to happen. Yay! I love those! Anyway, I will hopefully post by next weekend, since I missed my goal of this weekend with this chapter. I have refound my motivation, at least for right now, since I seem to lose it a lot, sadly. :( Either way, I hope you all continue to read on!**


	11. And So It Begins

**Chapter 11: And so it begins**

**Izzy POV**

"Come on, how scary can a dream really be? It's just a dream, Rose," comforted Alice, although there was a hint of condescension in her voice, and…did I imagine that, or was that a slight tremble of uncertainty and confusion?

"I'm telling you! It didn't seem like only a dream! It was…it was so vivid…and…and horrifying!" Rose seemed purely in distress. "I don't know…it was so weird!"

"What happened?" I asked, strolling up to the circle they had formed.

"Rose says she had a pretty intense dream last night. She said she was walking through the streets, going home, but it was somewhere else, in the past." I could tell that Edward had a little trouble understanding why Rose was so freaked out.

"But it seemed so much like a memory! It was so…real! I had been at a friend's house, and she was the same age as me, but she was married, and I felt really jealous for some reason. They had a little boy, I think that was why I went to visit, but I felt so envious. I apparently started dreaming of that kind of life for me. You know, married, with kids? And I think I was…engaged. And he was really rich, and I was kind of vain. But then…I was going through an alley, because I was stupid and refused an escort, and he was there, and I somehow knew it was him, even though I hadn't ever seen him before, in real life. And I could tell he was really drunk, and his buddies all were, too. Then, he comes up to me, so I can smell the alcohol on his breath, and he kind of chuckles, all evilly. And then I woke up. But it seemed…it seemed like…they….took advantage of me! And it's so weird because it was in a dream, but it seemed like it had actually happened!" At this point, Rose was breathing erratically, and I could tell she was starting to freak out. It must have not only seemed insanely real, but hit particularly close to home. She was close to breaking down again. Emmett pulled her in close and shushed her, looking like it was paining him to see her at all upset. Her breathing eventually evened out, and she detached herself partially from him to face us. She looked a little embarrassed, and she kept her eyes on the ground.

"I'm sorry, I…I probably seemed crazy. I-I just…it really did seem like it wasn't just a dream."

"I know, honey. I had one of those last night too. It was so real. It's okay. Nobody thinks you're crazy," I said, as comfortingly as I could manage.

"Really? You did? That's…that's kind of weird." She seemed genuinely puzzled. She fixed her hair and wiped away her tears. "Are my eyes puffy?" She asked, waiting until I shook my head before going on. "Was it almost like a memory, but way more vivid?"

"Yeah. And it seemed like it was way in the past, but also happening in real time, you know?"

"Yeah!" This wasn't just weird. This was pretty crazy.

"Okay, this is crazy." Just what I was thinking, Edward. "If these dreams are as vivid as you say, and they happened at the same time, then it would be a pretty big coincidence."

"Yeah, but what else could it be?"Alice mused, seemingly lost in contemplation.

"I have no idea." The rest of us seemed really confused, along with him. Before I heard Rose had had the exact same kind of dream on the exact same night, I thought that maybe I was being delusional, but I knew that Rose was a fairly sane person. The bell for class rang, and with us all feeling pretty creeped out, we turned to go.

"Guys, just don't feel too weird. Just remember, it's not like we're in some freaky movie or anything. As crazy as it seems, it's probably just a coincidence," Edward rationalized.

"I don't believe in coincidences." Looks like Jasper was thinking the same thing I was.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

All through the day, I was mostly thinking about how weird that was. To the point where it was lunchtime and I was still thinking about this occurrence, if that's what it could be called. It was a little mild, sure, but it just didn't seem like the kind of thing that happened in real life.

"Hey, Izzy," greeted Edward, as I sat down at the table where we had all first talked. It had kind of become "ours". The others also chorused a variety of greetings. I nodded in a showing of the same.

"Hey, Edward." I was kind of in a serious mood today, apparently. I would usually tease him by calling him Eddie, which he hated. "Hey, do you guys want to go outside to eat today?" I could use some fresh air. I needed to snap myself out of this feeling of something big happening, and the consequent slight mental paranoia. Even more that what was there usually.

Everybody kind of shrugged, seemingly kind of in the same frame of mind I was, and we all took our food and went outside. We hadn't gone outside for lunch ever before, but we all seemed to kind of want to not be in the crowded, noisy lunchroom. The school was pretty much used to us now, so not many people paid attention when we all left. It was cloudy as usual in Forks, the city named after silverware and places where roads split. Subsequently, there were no other people outside, except a brown-haired, quiet girl with glasses I had in some of my classes, Angela. Even she looked like she was heading back in. She did, and it was just us.

"So, what? Do you guys think those dreams were just a thing that happens?" Rose finally said, breaking the solemn silence we had going.

"Well, what else would they be, though?" asked Alice in reply.

"She's right. We can't exactly just focus on one weird occurrence. We should just go on like normal. It was weird, it freaked us out, we move on," stated Emmet kind of gruffly. He didn't like having to think that they were something else. He liked to keep it kind of light

"AUGH!" We all looked at Edward, thinking he had just been physically harmed. I tensed more in preparation, but he seemed physically fine. Instead, he looked like he was having an intense headache.

"Sorry…guys…it's just-my head…it's killing me," he rasped out. "Could…could you guys just…tone it down a little?" he asked, seemingly directing it at everyone but me and Jasper sitting a little to the rear and right of everybody else. We all looked around, puzzled. We weren't talking. I whispered this to him, but he just shook his head, grimacing in pain. "I definitely hear Alice's voice, and Emmett and Rosalie, and a little bit of Jasper's."

Now we were concerned. Was he hearing voices? "I'm telling you guys, I'm not crazy! I can hear Emmett basically shouting. He's saying something about…how this shit is so depressing, and he wishes it would stop being so serious." Emmett looked shocked. He hadn't said that out loud, but… "No Emmett, there's no way I'm hearing your thoughts." Oh my shitsicles. We all knew that there was no other explanation. Edward made a little sound of relief. "That's kind of better. Thanks, guys. I've had bad headaches before, but you guys were all yelling, and…why are you all looking at me weird?" He had opened his eyes slightly, just to see us all staring at him in shock. Pure, dumbfounded shock. There was no way this was happening. It can't be. People can't hear other people's thoughts. I apparently mumbled this to myself, because Edward's eyes were wide open in shock.

"No….you don't think…"He abruptly cut off and clutched his head in agony. "GUYS! Do you mind? Can you not…think so loud?"

"Sorry, Edward, it's just kind of weird, and we're all freaking out a little," I said quietly.

"No, you're okay. I can't hear you at all, actually, and Jasper just barely, like he's just kind of mumbling in the back of my head. But Alice is talking really loudly, and Rose was too, and Emmett..Emmett was practically shouting. Or…thinking, I guess?"

"But how can that be possible?" Emmett said, also quietly. He seemed to be making a concentrated effort to not think loudly. How do you even control that? I guess I don't have to know…

"Edward, do you think you can handle school? I don't think it's too much of a problem out here because there aren't a lot of people, but you were in pain. I'm guessing your…range or whatever, isn't too big, because you can't hear the thoughts of the people inside. But, it'll be worse if you're in a crowded hallway or in a classroom. There's no way people aren't going to notice." If there was a way to deal with it, it wasn't by doing it right here, right now. This isn't ordinary, and we should discuss it later, somewhere safer. But we can't have anybody see Edward like this, or they'll send him to an asylum. I told everybody this, and they made noises of agreement.

"But what can we do?" asked Alice.

Jasper spoke up this time. He rarely did, content with just staying in the background and evaluating things, but when he took charge you could count on him to have a well thought out plan that would be less likely to backfire than a top of the line sports car. With Rose for a mechanic, as she had turned out to be a top of the line one. "Here's what we'll do. One of us, preferably Alice, the one most capable of convincing adults with her 'puppy dog face', will go get the nurse, and tell her that Edward here is sick. Her thoughts will most likely cause Edward pain, and while it isn't very good for him, it will help convince her that he needs to go home. I'll offer to drive him home, since I'm his half-brother. Then I'll tell our guardians that we're going to go to Emmett's. Later, I'll call them and say we're going to crash over there. They let us do that the other day when we all went to Izzy's. And, like that day, we'll go over there, because there aren't any nosy people out there, and it'll be just me, Izzy, and Edward. I'll drive back to school and we all act like everything's perfectly normal. He'll spend the night at Izzy's, if that's okay with her, and we can see what the situation is tomorrow." That was a nice plan. Simple, but it took care of all of our bases, at least until tomorrow. We all nodded in agreement, and Alice went off to fetch the nurse.

**AN/: And I'll leave it off there, because it seems like there was a lot of drama in one chapter, at least compared to my previous ones…yeah. This chapter, like all my other ones came out of a veritable writing frenzy, so, it may or may not be in need of some editing or revising. If it does, then I hope you guys will just bear with me and give a little forgiveness-money to the metaphorical can I'm holding. (In this metaphor, I'm a hobo) Anyways, I'm more focused with getting it all out in a story-like glob before I go back and refine. I don't know when I'll get around to doing that, so maybe there's going to be a lot of bearing. I just want to say thanks for that, since I've gotten no bad reviews yet….:)**


	12. Dominos

**Chapter 12: Dominos**

**Izzy POV (as the rest of the story will be, unless otherwise specified, since I'm kind of tired of typing this.)**

Throughout the rest of the school day, instead of thinking about the dreams that Rose and I had, I was more concerned with Edward. How could somebody read minds, as it seemed he had? And was he going to ever get used to it? Or would he be in pain forever? Assuming, of course, this wasn't just a random occurrence, and would last. That was another question. Was this temporary? And would this weird turn of events simply stop here?

This day was beginning to seem more like a movie plot than real life. Finally, the bell rang for the end of school, and I cleared out as fast as I could. I didn't have much homework, and I had finished it all in class, so I simply stuffed all my books in my locker. I slammed it shut and locked it, trying to get back to my house as fast as possible. I knew that the others would probably want to check on him as well, and I was right, as they were all waiting outside for me. Without a word, we all entered our respective rides and they followed me as we drove out of the parking lot.

We drove moderately fast, but not so fast as to gain unwanted attention. We arrived at my house and congregated in another ring in the middle of my driveway.

"Remember to try to think as softly as you can," I reminded them, "we don't want to hurt him." They all nodded in unison, and in a solemn and anxious procession, we entered my house and made our way to the living room. "Where?" I asked Jasper.

"In the bedroom I figured was your spare," he replied, gesturing with his chin the general direction. We all turned towards the door and opened it, only to see Edward, seeming good as new, and waiting for us, looking like he had just been reading a textbook.

"Hey!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw that we all had entered the room. "I feel much better. I guess it was just the sudden onslaught of thoughts. I still kind of have a slight headache, but I'm good. I'm still fine even when I heard your thoughts outside the door."

At this we all breathed a small sigh of relief. He suddenly winced, almost imperceptibly, but enough. "Yeah, I'm glad to know you're glad I'm better, Emmett, but the sudden change in volume is kind of painful."

"Oh, sorry bro. I'll tone it down." He grinned, possibly because Edward seemed way more normal, berating him for something. "There. Better?"

"Yeah," Edward said, also grinning. "But I can definitely handle that better." We all moved closer to him, sitting on various pieces of furniture. Alice sat on by him on the bed, I sat on the desk left behind by the family who had moved, Rose sitting next to me, and Jasper leaning against it on the other side. Emmett just plopped himself at Rose's feet and seemed like he was thinking particularly hard about something.

"Constipated, Emmett?" I teased him. He scowled playfully at me before replying.

"No. I was just wondering-"

"-how I can read thoughts?" Edward finished for him. I found that particularly creepy and told him so.

"I guess it would be. I'll try not to do that from now on. And I don't know how I can do this. I'm more freaked out about it than you guys are. I mean, all of a sudden, I can just read thoughts." He paused for a moment, reflecting on all the weirdness, I guess. "But, since I really have no way of finding that out, I spent my time wondering about other things, like how come Jasper's thoughts arereally quiet and I can't hear Izzy." At this, everybody turned to look at us, wearing thoughtful faces. I shrugged, and felt Jasper do the same next to me, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes full of mysteries, but mostly looking like he didn't have a clue, same as me.

"There are a lot of questions. A lot more than we have answers, which, by the way, we have none. I mean, is it connected to the weird dreams? What caused it? And a million more." We all thought a while on that one. All of a sudden, I sensed something was not right, coming from the direction of the bed. I instantly whipped my head over to look. What I saw was Alice's eyes rolling back into her head, and her body collapsing back onto the bed. A fraction of a second later, Edward's eyes glazed over and he went limp. Jasper, slightly closer to the bed than I was, and having saw the exact same thing I had, leapt forward to catch him, and leaned him against the wall that the bed was pushed up against. I, having gotten there just behind him, assisted in making sure Edward did not fall over.

I moved over to check over Alice as Jasper did the same to Edward. We checked their vital signs; their pulses, breathing, and that kind of thing. This was something I had sadly had to do before, due to my history. And obviously, the same thing was true with Jasper. We glanced at each other, conveying with a look that the signs were normal. We were forced to turn our attention back to them as their pulses simultaneously sped up a little, before going back to normal. By this point, I could tell that Rosalie and Emmett had gathered near us, trying to see what was wrong with them, worry present in their eyes. I slowly straightened up, sharing another look with Jasper. They seemed completely normal, except for the obvious.

"Should we call 911?" voiced Rosalie, heavily laden with concern.

"We should wait a bit before we do that. They don't seem to be in any immediate medical danger, and I think that this isn't what you would call normal." Jasper delivered this in a crisp, clear tone, clearly conveying the situation and the course of action that would be taken.

"I agree. Besides, it looks like they're coming back." At my words, they turned to look as Alice, moaning, shifted a little before slowly sitting up and looking around. Edward, on the left of her, seemed dazed, as he blinked in confusion.

"What was that?" he mumbled to himself. He then proceeded to shake his head, trying to clear it. He was clearly a little shaken.

"That…was a vision," Alice said, also a little shaken, but seemingly more used to this kind of thing happening. "You must've seen it through my thoughts."

"Care to share, Alice?" asked Emmett, looking confused and a little angry. Perhaps because he had concluded that she had been keeping a secret.

"Well…I guess I kind of have to now, don't I." It was phrased as a question, but was more of a statement of the inevitable. Like she had expected this, too. "It started when I was a little kid, maybe around six. I was playing around one day, and all of a sudden, I fainted. My mom was looking after me then, and she rushed me to the hospital. The doctors couldn't really figure out what had happened, so they just monitored me until I woke up and sent me home.

I figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't normal. While I had passed out, I had had my first vision. The more major ones cause me to slip out of consciousness for a while. Usually my eyes kind of glaze over and I get small glimpses. Other times, I just have feelings that something is going to happen. I mostly kept these to myself. I had made the mistake of telling my mom that while passed out, I had seen that the school where I was attending was going to catch on fire. She didn't believe me, of course, thinking it was just my imagination. But then, a few days later, the school burnt down. She was worried, but just dismissed it as a bizarre coincidence. After that, it was seemingly normal for awhile. I kept my feelings and brief glimpses as a secret. I realized that if I told anybody, they would either think I was just making it up, or I was crazy. I didn't have another big vision again for awhile, when I was ten.

Luckily this time, it happened when I was by myself, in my room. But what I saw was blood. So much blood. I couldn't tell who it was coming from, but I saw my dad's reflection in the mirror next to the pool of it. It looked like the mirror in my house, next to the living room couch. I knew I had to tell someone, since it seemed like it was going to hit close to home. I had never been wrong before. So when my dad came home that afternoon, during fall break, I remember, I told him that something bad was going to happen. I told him that I had visions, and I had seen a giant pool of blood, and that he had been standing near it. He didn't seem to believe me, so I told him how I had seen the fire before, and how I knew that he had had a bad day and his boss had yelled at him and cut his pay for being hung over at work. He seemed to need further convincing, so I told him that I had seen him with that other woman. That I knew he had cheated on my mom just last night.

He freaked out. My mom was in the backyard, getting some vegetables for dinner. His face turned scarlet, and the vein in his neck started throbbing. He set his briefcase down and I remember being terrified of him in that moment. I could tell he was furious, but he struggled to control it as he asked me how I knew that. He wouldn't believe me when I said I could see the future. He was convinced that I was going to tell my mom and that he would be cut off from the small fortune she had inherited. He needed it to cover his gambling debts. He started yelling at me, calling me all sorts of names, and I remember just standing there, crying. And then…and then he picked up a little ornamental stone statue from the mantle and…and he just started bashing my head, over and over again. My vision started getting blurry, but I saw my mom coming back in, standing there, screaming. She dropped the vegetables she had gathered, and ran towards my dad, trying to push him away from me, but he just kept on hitting me, so hard that I threw up blood. I blacked out after that. I was told later that my mom had to hit my dad over the head to knock him out for a little while so that she could call 911. My dad was sent to prison, and my mom tried to recover as best she could.

She tried to stay strong for me, and that made her draw back a little. She was still a good mom, just more distant. She started an interior design business, and I resorted to fashion. And the rest was the rest. I've known since then that these visions I have, visions of the future should be kept to myself," she finished, voice still fairly strong. It had broken several times while describing her dad attempting to murder her, but the whole thing was delivered as a sort of factual narrative, slightly apart from herself. "I had some trouble coping, so I went to go see a therapist, and, thought I couldn't tell her about the visions, she helped me a lot. I've pretty much dealt with it by now. So there's no need to say you had no idea, or that you're sorry. I've faced it, and I'm healed now." And I could tell she meant it. And, I presumed, everybody else could too. There was complete silence as we all digested her words.

Finally, Emmett broke it, as was his thing. "So, then…what was your vision of this time?" This immediately piqued all of our curiosity, as to what the answer would be.

"Well, they always take some deciphering, since they're a little vague and confusing as Edward can tell you," at this, Edward nodded, "but I'm pretty sure it means that someone's going to try to attack us, or, as it seems, more like Jasper and Izzy."

With this news, I had an idea of what kind of enemy it was. I could tell that Jasper had drawn his own conclusions too. "Can you tell what they looked like?"

"Um, it was a few guys who looked like goons, but the one who looked like their leader, he had dark, like sandy blonde hair, and green eyes, but he had this crazy look about him, and he had a girl with him, with really bright red hair, who looked kind of sadistic." I knew exactly who she was talking about. Jasper and I shared a loaded look.

"It's Victoria…" I flashbacked to her vicious smile, baring her teeth as she basked in the pain of the girl she had beaten. She didn't stop, she just kept on hurting her, seeming like she was getting high off of the screams of pain.

"..and James," Jasper finished for me. I shuddered. James.

"Wait, how do you know them?" asked Rose.

"Victoria was a nasty bitch who got off on the pain of the beginners that she beat up. I hated her, and she hated me. Although that was because I gave her what she deserved," I said, smirking. "Apparently, she underestimated me, and thought I would be easy prey. She found out the hard way that I wasn't. She's had a major grudge ever since."

"James is her 'companion'," Jasper continued, showing obvious disdain for him. "He's a slimy little bastard and basically the male version of Victoria." He didn't seem like he was going to go on, so I continued.

"Yeah, and he hates me too. He challenged me to a fight, seeking revenge for little Vicky, but I couldn't let him win. And I didn't. I don't know how Jasper knows them, though." I deliberately shifted the attention back to Jasper. I had my suspicions about him, but he'd never confirmed anything yet.

"Well, my past is probably pretty similar to Izzy's. Well, at least, parts of it. Edward doesn't even know what I did before I fell in with his family. I guess I'll just summarize a bit for background knowledge.

I was born in a small town in Texas, and I spent the best years of my childhood there. Up until I was my parents died. The official reason was only 'mysterious causes'. Nobody knew anything, but I could just tell they were murdered, somehow. But everyone else was just content to bury it under the rug so it could go back to being the town where people left their front doors unlocked. I heard that they were going to put me into the foster care system, but I had no intention of being a ward of the state. I took all the cash that my parents had stashed in the house. They didn't leave behind a lot, but it was enough for me. I disappeared. The law enforcement all just dismissed me as another troubled kid who ran away from home. It wasn't like they could find me. I was pretty good at staying unnoticed. I made my way through the seedier underbellies of cities, and when my cash supply started dwindling, I did take up street fighting, like Izzy. I met James there. He rubbed me the wrong way, from the start. I could tell he was a real shitty person. Anyway, I was new at the game, but I was good, and I started to have a reputation, since I had never been beaten yet. He challenged me, I accepted, I whooped him. He was pretty humiliated, but as far as I could tell, he left to lick his wounds and fester a bit. I moved on.

Eventually I found my way to a good ol' guy who took me in and raised me as his own for a while. That was when Ed here and his mom showed up. They were in need of a kind soul, and the same one that took me in took them in too. We lived a pretty good life at his little ranch, but then, of course, it ended. He died in a car crash. By then we were a kind of family, I got adopted, Ms. Mason, Edward's mom, went through some hard times, we moved near Chicago. A couple years later, I was still convinced I was a charity case, and I ran off again, back to fighting, this time in the streets of Chicago. Eventually I got sick of life like that, since I pissed James off again when he challenged me to a rematch, and I beat him again. He had gotten better, but I had too. I was pretty good by that time. I refined my fighting style that year, and I had a reputation again. I was still unbeaten. But he threatened me, and this time, I could tell he was serious, and wouldn't stop until either he killed me, or I killed him in. I didn't want to do that. I kind of liked fighting, yeah, but I still tried to stay out of other things. Murder was something I definitely didn't want to have anything to do with.

I went back home, we grew closer, even though, I have to admit, I still snuck out sometimes to fight. It's a great feeling, and I found that I had the ability to excel. I sneak out regularly to train, too. Sorry, Ed." Edward seemed like he now had known worse, and simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"You never told me about before you found Mr. S."

"I didn't think you'd want to know. You didn't tell me about you before Mr. S, either." At this, Edward nodded again, accepting it.

"So James and Victoria are coming after Izzy and Jasper?" Rose said, trying to clarify things. "Then what do we do?"

"We?" I asked, unable to believe that after everything, and threat on their lives, at least Rose out of my friends was going to still going to stick by me. Jasper had a similar look of disbelief on his face. The others simply nodded.

"Well, I am not going to let you two face them alone." Emmett said, making it seem like that was assumed from the start.

"Me too." Alice, out of all of them, had to understand the risk. And yet she wasn't backing down.

"You're my kind of my brother, Jasper. And Izzy's my friend." Edward seemed a little insulted that his brother didn't expect him to be there for him.

"And you're all of our friends. Besides, James and Victoria seem like they're the exact same people I hate the most." Rose seemed like she was ready to kick ass and take names.

"You guys do know that there's the strong probability of death? Either ours or theirs because of us." I had to make sure they knew what they were getting into.

There was little hesitation as they all stood by their words. I felt like ever since the dreams, and Edward's ability had come to light, suddenly events had fallen upon us one right after the other, like a chain of dominos. I also felt like I finally knew what it was to have friends that would always be there for you, like the strongest net in the world, always there in a system of unbreakable support. Even though I had only technically known them a pretty short time, I felt like we knew each other, deep down. And I knew that if I was in any of their positions, I would do the same thing for them.

"Thank you." I felt like it needed to be said. Everybody nodded, most with small heartfelt smiles. "I guess there's nothing like a potential life and death situation to bond everyone together."

**AN/: Aaaaaand….mushiness! As you could probably tell, that's it for this chapter. I want to say thanks for the reviews I got. They made me feel all gooey inside. That's probably why there was so much mush in those last few paragraphs. Or, my version of mush, anyways. :) I felt that I should lay down some of the others' back stories there. So now, really all that's left is…let's see, all of the girls have gone…and Jasper. So who's left? That's right, my smart little cloudlings. (Whoa, that's a weird name for a collective group, isn't it?) Edward and Emmett. E&E. Edwardo and Emmetailia. Yeah. I think I'm a little crazy from all the Monday. Monday is my least favorite day…..because it's Monday. Virtual hi-five poke for all those who hear what I'm saying! (I don't like to hi-five, so I always just poke people's palms instead. Yeah, I'm weird.)**


	13. Purr

**Chapter 13: The Second Dream**

"Okay, as much as this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, we need to start preparing now, if you guys are serious about helping us." I felt like we needed to start planning right away, so that we would be ready when the time came, and said as much.

"She's right. They think that they have the element of surprise on their side, but because of Alice, we can be ready for them," Jasper agreed.

"Alice, do you know any details? We need to know everything we can."

"Well…I think that it's going to happen in maybe a few months. I know it's going to happen here, as long as they don't change their minds."

"Alright, do you know about what time of day it's gonna happen?"

"Umm…I think in the late afternoon…the sun was still up, but it wasn't going to be for long…" She seemed like she was trying to remember every single detail of her vision.

"Could you tell what direction they're coming from?" asked Jasper, who looked like he was going through multiple scenarios in his mind so as to put together a strategy. That had probably been his thing while in the fights.

"Well, we were facing them, and the sun was at our backs, so I would say they were coming from the east, probably from the Dakota's area."

"Alright, thanks, Alice. You look worn out, you should rest or something. I can imagine that your visions probably take a lot out of you." She smiled at me gratefully, and sighed.

"Yeah. Can I sleep here tonight? My mom's out of town, and I don't really like being all alone.."

"Sure. You don't even have to ask." I smiled back, a real smile. I had rarely had one of those on my face before I met my friends, but now… I was smiling more and more.

" 'Kay. I'll remember that." She yawned and lay down on the bed with a sigh, and putting her legs on Edward's lap. I could tell she'd be asleep soon. Those visions must really drain her energy.

"Yeah, I should probably get goin'," Emmett said, a little disappointed to be leaving. "Nona will beat me with a cane if I don't." Always the drama queen, Emmett.

"Yeah. My mom's actually home today. She'll want to engage in awkward conversation in an attempt to be a good parent." This Rose said with a heavy dose of cynicism.

"Alright. Bye you guys. Jasper, you should probably call your guys' mom." He went off to do that, and I turned to Edward.

"Since Alice is here, you can stay over there. The family that moved outta here had more use for all these rooms then I do. I have a lot of spares." Edward nodded, and headed to where I had gestured. It seemed that he was pretty tired too. Probably from the sudden gaining of mind reading powers.

I stood up and walked over to the couches. They might be tired, but I still wasn't. I had no idea what to do now. I stretched out on a couch and started to go through possible courses of action in my head. Jasper and I would definitely have to teach them to fight. James and Victoria were nasty pieces of shit, but they weren't stupid, as much as that would make things easier. I knew that James was the controlling one of the two, and Vicky basically did whatever he wanted her to. I also knew that James was deeply mistrusting, and probably wouldn't have a whole lot of extra people with him. If he did, he still wouldn't trust them, so he was more likely to hire goons. Goons fight with their sheer power. Not so much with speed or efficiency, or even much thought at all. It was more like a charging rhino.

I looked up as Jasper entered the living area. He sat himself on the plush leather chair at my feet. He ran his hand through his hair, and groaned.

"What's with all the drama goin' on recently?" He muttered. I had noticed the slight twang and drawl in his voice before, but it was more apparent now. I guessed that his accent from his childhood slipped out more when he was stressed. I could also guess that when the danger actually came, he would be calm. But right now, he was allowing himself to stress over it for awhile.

"I don't know. It doesn't even seem like real life anymore. I mean, first there was the weird dreams, and then Edward starts reading minds, and Alice tells us she can see the future." It seemed like a little much.

"I know. What's next? More freaky powers? Telekinesis, maybe?" He chuckled warily, then turned serious. It would probably be disconcerting, the way he could switch from more lighthearted to serious like the flip of a switch, if not for the fact that I knew that I did that too. "You know we'll have to teach them to fight."

I sighed, I didn't want to have to accept that I was putting my friends in danger. "Yeah. We should start soon." But I would have to suck it up and accept it.

We sat in silence, each contemplating our situation.

"So, what did they call you?" I asked Jasper.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know. You said you had quite a reputation. What did they call you? I can't believe that you'd tell them your real name. So you must've had a nickname."

"Nah. I didn't say much of anything. They just went by my physical description."

"Ah."

We sat in silence some more.

"What did they call you?" he asked.

"They just called me Izzy."

"Really? You told them your real name?"

"Well, my real name is Isabella. But I liked to be called Bella before, so I just said I was Izzy." I couldn't believe I just let slip my real name like that. Something about Jasper made me feel like I could tell him anything.

"Ah. I see. I think maybe I heard of you."

"Yeah. I might've heard of you too. Were you the one who spit on James?"

He looked a little sheepish. "Yeah. He said some stuff that made me real mad."

"Sounds like him."

"Definitely."

"You know, Vicky was about to beat up this girl that didn't even want to fight. She was there to bet, probably her only source of income. She just looked at me, right at me with the most panicked eyes you've ever seen. She had no experience, I could tell. Probably never even threw a punch. When I stepped in to stop Vicky, she whined like a little girl. Even threw a temper tantrum. I guessed I looked helpless to her, because then she said I would be taking her place instead. So I did, but she's never believed I really beat her. James too."

Catching onto what I was saying quickly, Jasper nodded. "Yeah, I think James couldn't really accept that I beat him, either. They might still underestimate us. That's something we can use to our advantage."

We debated over plans for a while, before we went to sleep, still on the couches. As soon as I fell asleep, I could tell I was going to have one of those weird dreams again.

_The number of Newbies has been reduced. Those that had lost limbs first had been…'culled'. They killed them. The males that had tried to ambush me glare at me with hatred, but I know that I am safe from them. I beat them all once, I can do it again. I wasn't been a very violent person before, tough, but not violent, but I like how I feel now. The knowledge that I can defeat them makes me feel powerful. And I like it. But I know I can't get drunk on it or I'll start getting cocky. And that's never good. Confidence is good, but cockiness can mean defeat. And here, that's not good._

_I can't stop thinking about the Major. More specifically, what he said. What did it mean? I heard some whispers that I did about as well as he did as a Newbie, so he's probably just intrigued. And I know that, but for some reason, I still can't stop obsessing over it. They call him the God of War. I know that he's an Empath, but I don't know the extent of his powers. For some reason, I feel connected to him. Which is weird, because that was the first time I ever saw him. But ever since I looked in his eyes, it feels like there's literally a rope tying us together. And it's really creepy. I don't like it. _

_I know that some of Us have powers, and I know that those that have useful ones usually live. But I don't want anyone else to know about mine. So I have to survive by beating the others. I always thought I have just been getting lucky, but if that's true, how did I survive the ambush? I have to have at least some skill, right? And that's good. Because I have to stay ahead of Them. Or I die._

_And to think, I used to love fairytales. The Happily Ever After was all a lie. That never happens in real life, and I know that won't happen to me. Nobody ever escapes here. Sure, They say that it happened, a while ago. The Major had a friend that escaped with a Newbie that they say was his mate. They whisper that he let them go, but They are scared of him, so They only whisper. It's hard to make friends here, in this place. It's harder for mates. She thinks that they are weaknesses, so She tries to kill them. Finding a mate here is a crime that results in death. They all say that She has a sweet spot for the Major, though. After all, he is her second in command. They say that he is also sometimes Her lover. I shudder just to think about it. From what I have heard, She is pure evil. The Major didn't seem quite that bad, although there are stories of his most cruel moments. So I know that he is capable of being dark, but They say that he hasn't been that way for a while. This place can turn anyone dark, though. Really, it's a testament of his character that he manages not to stay that way all the time._

_But apparently, when he is set off, he is a force to be feared even more than She is. And I believe it._

_They are coming to take us out for a new lesson. That's just great. Although I guess I should just be happy that no one has dared to oppose Her for a while. Maria has also not decided to conquer any new land yet. I've only been here less than a month, but They need the Newbies at the height of their strength and viciousness. As soon as they start to get weaker, if they don't show really great promise, they're killed. The ones that do show promise live, but in this place, that's not guaranteed. They are then put in charge of the new Newbies in battle, because there needs to be at least some semblance of order. They say that the Major is one of the longest living vampires here, and that in itself is a testament to his skill._

_Today's lesson seems pretty easy. We're just supposed to run through some drills with him. There are only a little less than half of what there were originally in our group. Oh, apparently, today's lesson isn't going to be so easy after all. That was just the beginning. I should expect that the great Major's lessons wouldn't be so simple. The drills have become a part of my instincts now. And that, undoubtedly is why we do them. But I can tell the others haven't quite gotten to that point yet. That's my advantage._

_When you first learn a skill, you learn it the technique of what you're attempting in a methodical, mechanical way. Like a robot .But after a few thousands times, the process becomes something you can do without even thinking. If you're doing it in the realm of high-level athletics, that's absolutely essential because every move is done with split-second timing. A basketball player often has to decide how he's going to approach the basket while in mid-air. There's no time to think, so how well you perform depends entirely on how well you've trained the instinctual part of your brain. And that's the way they're teaching us to fight. Thankfully, I've managed to get these things down faster than the others._

_We're supposed to…fight him. That doesn't seem like it's going to end well. Apparently, it's so that we can see what we'd do against a better-trained opponent and also to let him see our weaknesses in a combat situation in the way that that opponent would. I know my weaknesses. I've tried to make sure they won't be what kill me._

_The others are almost too thirsty to pay attention. That is until he says whoever does the best will get to feed first. He has all their attention now. Many of them are struggling to stay in one spot. They are typical Newbies, at least from what I've heard and seen. I have little trouble with that. Sure, it's there, but I can ignore it if I want to. The Major has already beaten several of the others. He is very talented, indeed. He seems almost bored. I am supposed to go last, which is good, because I can watch how he fights, preparing me more. He doesn't even seem like he's paying that much attention as he defeats one after another. He's very methodical and precise. Most of the others just rush him, giving him the advantage. He drops every single one of them in under a minute. The guy in front of me has seen this, and seems slightly more stable than the rest of them. But only slightly more so. Instead of rushing him head on, he hangs back for a second, then tries to feint and strike the Major from the side. But the Major doesn't fall for this, and drops him easily. Now it is my turn. I know that I have no hope of winning, not against someone of his experience, training, and skill, but I can at least put up more of a fight than the others._

_I step closer to the Major and take my stance, waiting for him to strike first. I need all the advantages I can get. Is that the smallest of smiles on his face? I think it is. Huh. We circle each other a couple of times, judging strengths and weaknesses. I see him shift to his right, but I know that he is most likely feinting, so I dodge and I am right._

_He lands and instantly turns toward me again. I am determined to be mostly on the defense, forcing him to attack me instead of the other way around. That gives me time. The others tried to attack him, but I am not trying to do that, and that switches our positions._

_He leaps at me, intending to get behind me, and strike before I can notice, but I swerve out of his way so that I am where he was and he lands where I was. I can tell he is going easy on me, even for sparring, but it is actually enjoyable. He isn't attacking with any ferocity or even lethality, but more to see what I do. _

_I stand here, tensed and ready for his next attack, and he doesn't disappoint. He seems thoughtful, evaluating me. My responses to his attacks, my stance, everything. I know he probably knows exactly what kind of training I have had, and he has more. I know that I have to do something he doesn't expect, which means something I haven't done before._

_I can tell, even though I am focused on the Major, that They are just waiting for me to be beaten, and that irritates me, but I don't let it affect me. Instead, I try to anticipate what I can do. The other side of me is waking slightly, blinking her cat-like eyes slowly, and letting a sinister smile stretch across her face. She exhales slowly, her chest rumbling in the purr of a lion or a leopard. A sound remarkably similar to a growl, but one clearly born in pleasure. She whispers to use my Difference, my Gift. I don't want to reveal that right now, but she urges me with eagerness to use it. As much as I don't want to, I know that it's what I should do. I would certainly catch him at least slightly off guard. I know that It has many aspects, so I use the simplest one. _

_I find the place in my mind that causes the world to vibrate, ever so slightly. I hold It in for a second, and then I push it out all at once, directed at the Major. It envelops him in an instant, forming to him like a second skin. I feel the colored spark in my mind that is both his essence and his Gift. I don't push him, but hold him there. He seems confused for barely a fraction of a second before his mind, as fast as mine, realizes I have a power. He seems slightly surprised that I can use it at my will, before he concentrates his on me._

_I am suddenly blasted by a humongous wave of paralyzing fear, despair, hopelessness, and depression. It's an interesting cocktail, but I knew of what he could do, and have lowered my mental defenses. Even so, it's stronger than I thought it would be, and I can tell that it isn't even his highest setting. I let the fear in, ever so slightly. Instead of shutting me down, as it is meant to do, it wakes me up, and I feel invigorated. The Major seems intrigued, and also like he is enjoying the challenge. He keeps the first cocktail there in the background, like a bass line, but adds tendrils of weariness that wrap around my defenses like vines, with spikes of something that tastes bitter in my mouth. I analyze them and store them in my mind for later consideration. _

_He then adds a green layer of stabbing jealousy as well as a warm layer of content. He withdraws the fear, seeing how it wakes me up, and instead replaces it with disorientation. I can't help but be a little affected by his experiments, even though I can tell he's not trying to completely overwhelm me with a particular emotion, instead adding layers and layers to see how many I can handle at once. He adds a dose of loyalty, devotion and confusion, before surrounding me in the coldness of pure sadness. I take a deep breath and thicken my defenses. He smiles to himself, before weaving a melody of captivity, more hopelessness, paralysis, horror, and other emotions I don't have a name for. I can tell he's not going to give up, so I keep my mental defenses up, but I know I have to try something different. I then smile at him, and, focusing deep inside myself, I try to transform my defenses into a giant mental mirror, but I'm not strong enough or familiar enough with this aspect of my Gift, and I only succeed partially. He seems surprised, though, and maybe impressed when I manage to reflect a tiny dose of the bitter emotion back at him. Our battle is now only happening in the plane of our Gifts instead of physically. I know that he is much more familiar with his than I am with mine, but I try all the same. _

_Instead of the look of intrigue and curiosity he was wearing before, when he was experimenting with me, he now simply looks cold. He then, doing something I didn't know he could do, reaches around my defenses and extracts my emotions from within me. I now can't feel anything, and without the determination that fueled my Gift, my defenses and the part of my gift keeping him immobile disintegrate into nothing. I am lost without my emotions and can't do anything. My other side can, though. She seems outraged, and grows until she fills me up. A sound that I have never heard before comes from my mouth, and the Major seems interested again. I surrender my body to her, and the entire world is tinted strange colors I am merely a passive observer as she engages the Major in battle._

_She attacks him ruthlessly, and, like a switch flips inside him, he snarls, his eyes growing dark. I speculate in passing that this must be the side of him that they call Major. I have been referring to him as the Major before, but this side of him is what the nickname must truly refer to. They said that the God of War is one stage farther. The other side of me might be taking over my body, but I discover that she is not alone. She is curled around a small cage in the back of my mind, not allowing whatever is inside to come out. Apparently this side of me is not the worst part of me._

_While I am passively speculating, my body has been engaging in fierce one-to-one with Major. This other side of me is positively outraged. She gives this fight everything she's got. _

_She tells me that she does have a name. I ask her what it is, and she just snarls at me. She says I'll know soon. And she turns all her attention back to the fight._

_She's managed to get a few scratches on him, but he's also managed to scratch her, and by default, me. More so than she's gotten on him. They sting, but I don't really care. I still don't feel anything. But she, the side of me currently in control, is filled with fury. She is more feral than I am, although in a way that makes her absolutely more lethal. Major is more experienced though, and eventually subdues her, sitting on her stomach and pinning my arms on the ground. She thrashes, kneeing him in the back, trying to bite him, get out of his hold, and he leans in close to my face and growls steadily. She calms slightly, staring at him in contempt. Major then does something unexpected. He licks my neck. I would be confused, if I had my emotions. A purr comes out of my mouth, the same one that she made when she woke. He makes the same sound, a deep, throaty, one, next to my ear, softly. He then licks my ear, and looks into my eyes. She stares back, and relaxes, slowly reaching up to lick his neck. _

_He purrs again in contentment, before he apparently becomes Major Jasper again. He looks slightly shocked, then gets up off of me, releasing my emotions. They come back in a rush, and all of a sudden, I realize what just happened, and I am deeply confused. He seems confused, also. I also realize that the Newbies had gone back with Them to get their limbs reattached, and presumably, to feed. They had apparently all assumed he'd be done with me soon, and had not waited around, as the others had been restless. So only we were out here. Nobody had witnessed the strange interaction. I felt slightly awkward, as I had no idea what had just happened, other than I had licked him and he had licked me. At least, our bodies had. Also, we had purred. The side of me previously in control curled up in content around the small cage, and I swear, she winked at me, before closing her eyes in slumber once again._

_Major Jasper seemed to be lost in thought as he walked me back inside. I knew he was still aware of things, but he was mostly inside his own head. I stepped inside the tent, and he turned and left. There was one of Them sitting inside, who looked surprised to see me. I can tell that he thought Major Jasper had inadvertently killed me or something. He stood up and took me out to feed. I pushed all thoughts of what had happened aside, and focused on the hunt._

**AN/: And that is where I shall end it. If none of that made sense, feel free to tell me. Because I honestly have no idea. Also, if you have any suggestions for what dream-Izzy's mysterious "other side" should be called, you should probably put that in a review. Because I also have no idea what I should call her, but just typing "other side" all the time is most likely confusing. So, please suggest ideas! I'm kind of desperate here…yeah.**


	14. First Lesson

**Chapter 14: First Lesson**

I hadn't told anyone of the details of my odd dreams, though I had informed them that it happened again. I didn't think I should mention that Jasper had been licking me…and that I had been licking him. That seemed pretty messed up to me. At this point, Jasper and I had barely even spoken. I knew that I was attracted to him, alright, but I certainly didn't feel the need to lick him.

Although I did wonder what that would feel like…no, Izzy. Bad Izzy. Concentrate. Today was to be the first lesson. Jasper and I were going to teach them the basics. I could tell Emmett had been in a few fights, but those were the kind where drunken punches of rage were thrown, and wouldn't be the kind of fighting that would allow him to win. But he would be fairly used to the way he already fought, and would take some effort to change. Alice would both be stubborn and refuse to learn, or would go along. I, of course, was hoping for the latter. Either way, she was small, like me, but frail. She'd have to develop some muscle.

Rosalie already worked out, and was in pretty good shape. I expected that she would be pretty open to learning to fight, as she would probably want to know how to defend herself. She was independent like that, and she'd definitely be interested in some self-defense. But she'd have to have enough combustible anger or some other fuel for her to strike out.

Edward had me most concerned. He just seemed too non-violent. He could read thoughts, which could help him depending on who he went up against. I would have to be sure he didn't become too reliant on it, though. Because if he went up against someone like me or Jasper, he wouldn't be able to read our next moves from our minds. We relied more on our instinct than anything else, in a real fight. I could tell we had many similarities, and that gave me some insight into his mind, but even I knew that Jasper could be surprising.

I just hoped that the whole mind-reading thing wouldn't give him a complex. I didn't want him to become and obnoxious, controlling asshole, or think he was better than everyone else just because he could hear all the passing thoughts floating through minds. Because as far as I could tell, he could only read the surface thoughts, not the deeper core beliefs that make us who we are. I mean, a girl who believes in staying a virgin until marriage can still fantasize all she wants about sex, and who hasn't had some errant thought about killing someone who rubbed them the wrong way? Then again, this was Edward we were talking about. I shouldn't worry about this new surprise changing him. He wasn't that type of person, although I knew that he could've been.

Anyway, it was nice out for a change, and it was the weekend. I would get to be with all my friends, teaching them something that made me feel alive. There was no reason that I should be unhappy, and I was determined to be in a good mood for once.

Jasper showed up early so that we could discuss what we were going to do. We both agreed today we should stick to the basics. I wasn't even sure if Alice knew how to make a proper fist. We also agreed on some basic moves we could show them and I opened all the windows downstairs so that there would be a nice breeze to cool them down. After all, they weren't used to this; we should ease them into it. Edward and Jasper's mom, as well as Emmett's Nonna were used to them being here all the time, already, and we told them that it was for school. Alice and Rosalie's moms weren't usually home, but they were also told the same lie.

After a while, Jasper and I's conversation turned to more usual things. We sat on the floor of my basement, and we talked about how bitchy some of the teachers were, and other things as well. There was still about half an hour until one, when we had all agreed for the others to come over. All of a sudden, Jasper smirked, and it made me suspicious.

"What?" I asked, warily. I rolled my shoulders, trying to alleviate the persisting ache in my back.

"Oh, well, you know, I was just thinking, our last spar ended in a draw. Don't you want to do a tiebreaker?" At this, I smirked back at him. I enjoyed our last match, because it had been a while since there was someone who could pose a challenge to me. Besides, it had been fun. Neither of us had had any aggression, but it was more lighthearted.

"A draw, huh? I clearly remember you going down," I teased, poking him a bit on the shoulder.

"Only after you went down first," he teased back, poking me in the stomach.

"Don't poke my tummy!" I pouted playfully, feeling more comfortable with our banter than I had in a while.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Should I apologize to your tummy?" He leaned down over my stomach, speaking to it. "I deeply apologize for any discomfort I may have caused you, you are a fine tummy and you didn't deserve it. It was my fault for poking you without provocation, and I accept any consequences you may have for me. I'm sorry, it's a problem in my life, and I need to get help." The completely serious look on his face had me laughing so hard, tears escaped my eyes.

"Stop it, Jasper; you're going to make me pee myself!" My face was absolutely red from laughter, and I couldn't stop.

"Eww, Izzy. I already apologized. Don't pee on me!" His response only made me guffaw more. The look on his face was priceless. He had contorted his face in a look of mock disgust, and it was absolutely hilarious.

"You amuse me, Jasper," I finally got out, after my laughter had subsided a bit.

"Glad to be of service," he said, bowing his head playfully and making a flourishing gesture with his hand.

"Shut up!" I couldn't be laughing any harder. "You're going to make me suffocate on my own laughter! How would you feel then?"

"I would find it pretty funny," he teased, "and I would make sure it was carved into your gravestone for all the future generations. I'd also write a speech for your funeral. Couldn't you just hear it now? Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today because, in a fit of hysterical laughter, one that made us concerned about her mental health, she could literally not breathe, and died. Sadly, we will never know the joke that she was laughing at, as she took it to her grave. It might be just as well though, for the insane powers of this apparently incredibly funny joke should not fall into the wrong hands, as it would surely lead to world domination."

I had never seen Jasper with his guard down before, but I was pretty close to seeing it now. He was joking around, and he looked so carefree. I really liked it. I hoped that I would see him like this in the future.

I nudged his side with my elbow. "Come on, like you would be allowed to speak at my funeral. I plan on leaving a special section in my will just to say that, under no circumstances, should Jasper ever be allowed to speak at a public event concerning me."

"Aww, I feel so touched, Izzy. I get an entire section of your will?" I grinned.

"Only if you're nice."

"I can play nice. Want proof?" I raised my eyebrow. This should be interesting.

"Let's see what proof you have, Jasper." He grinned and scooted behind me, ignoring my questions as to what he was doing.

He sat with his legs crossed behind me, and instructed me to do the same. When I asked him why, he just smiled and said to trust him. I figured, meh, my curiosity was never gonna be satisfied if I didn't, so why not. He then proceeded to give me the best backrub I had ever had before. He must've noticed that my back had been bothering me. It was sweet, and for some reason felt really touching.

I threw my head back and moaned breathily, "Jasper, your fingers are magic. This is definitely enough to get a section in my will."

For some reason, his voice sounded just a little bit strained when he said, "Good. I told you I could play nice."

"Remind me to make you give me another one of these," I said, continuing with the banter.

"Now, why would I do that," he chuckled in my ear. I couldn't help but suddenly notice how close he was to me, and yet I didn't feel tense or on guard at all. I was nothing but putty in his hands. His backrub skills were seriously too good to believe. His breath tickled my cheek and smelled like citrus and a drop of honey. It was fresh and sweet all at the same time.

"I don't know, but I've got to figure out a way. This feels so good." He chuckled again.

"I'm glad to hear it." I knew his hands weren't exactly velvet soft, but the way he moved them around my back was such a gentle, but steady pressure that I couldn't help but feel extremely relaxed.

"Seriously, Jasper, this feels really good." I was dangerously close to just falling into a coma of pleasure from all the relaxation he was giving me.

He said nothing, but I could tell he was just smiling. I had closed my eyes for a while, but when I opened them, I inadvertently caught a glimpse of the clock hanging on the wall, and I scrambled to get up.

"As much as I want you to never stop, the others are gonna be here soon." I offered him a hand up, which he took, although we both knew he didn't need it.

"Alright. This should be interesting." My thoughts exactly, Jasper, my thoughts exactly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"No, Emmett! You can't just go around punching randomly!" He's going to make me die prematurely.

"Well why the hell not?" Emmett, you're such a dumbass.

"Because, they're going to kick your ass if you do, like Rose just did!" At this, Rose smirked at him.

"Rose did not kick my ass! It was an accident"

Rose walked over to him and gloated, "Oh, you know I did, you big buffoon. There was nothing accidental about that."

"Shut up! I just-I just slipped!"

"And fell on your back, and threw a sissy fit? All by accident?" Emmett should just stop being in denial about it. If he wasn't going to change his way of fighting, he was going to be a pain in the ass.

"I told you! You've got to think! You can't just go around swinging your fists. You're too focused on using pure force, you're too slow! Rose is fast on her feet. So unless you want to keep getting your ass kicked, you've got to get faster!"

"No, I don't!" He knew that I was right; he was just too stubborn to admit it.

I was going to punch him in the face if I got any more worked up. Trying to remain calm, I asked, "Do you want to keep on getting your ass kicked by Rose?"

He looked like he was about to protest before he caught a sight of my expression. Shrinking back a little, smartly, he hung his head. "No."

"Then start using that head!" I usually didn't get all worked up like that, but Emmett could just be so infuriating. I walked angrily over to where Jasper was standing and took a deep breath to calm myself. "Alright, Edward and Alice, your guys' turn."

As Edward and Alice walked to the center and started sparring, Jasper turned to look at me. By the utterly amused expression he had on, I knew that he was going to tease me about something.

"So I notice that Emmett has a special talent for pissing you off," he said with a smile both on his face and in his voice.

"Yeah," I sighed. He was just so exasperating.

"I also noticed your mouth gets awfully dirty when you're mad."

"Nuh-uh. I just said ass. That's not that bad…"

"Mm-hmm. I could tell you were cussing him out in your head, though."

"Well, okay, but he just won't listen to me!"

"Whoa there, calm down. Don't get yourself all worked up again. I think he got it this time."

I simply nodded, turning my attention to Edward and Alice. We had only taught them the basics, but they were doing pretty good. Really, the only problem, as expected was that Emmett was too stubborn in his ways. And, also as expected, Edward was a little reluctant when he was sparring. He just didn't want to hurt anyone. But, he was a little more competitive than expected, and had some pride, so he wasn't doing too badly. So far, Rose was doing the best, as I had thought. Edward was just behind her, then Alice, and lastly, Emmett, a fact that he hated. He just wouldn't listen. Edward was kind of slim, so he, as well as Rose and Alice were pretty fast, and I had told them to use this to their advantage. If Emmett would just be lighter on his feet, he could be, too, and I had told him this. He just continued lumbering about. Like a less hairy version of Bigfoot.

I knew from sparring with Jasper that he was both powerful enough so that his blows were devastating, but also light on his feet, quick and lithe in his strikes. He had enough muscle on him, more than the average teenager, if you could call him that. But he was muscular in a lankier way than Emmett but more solid than Edward. Edward had a poet's body, with some muscle, but you could tell he didn't exactly work out. Emmett, well, he was just pretty massive. Jasper was tall and muscular, kind of in the middle. I realized that I had been staring at Jasper's chest while thinking. Slightly embarrassed, I turned away, but not before Jasper caught me staring at him. I cleared my throat and refocused. I could see Jasper smirking at me in my peripherals, though.

Edward was dragging this one on, like he did every one. He was just too hesitant. He had been sparring Rose first, but now with Alice, he seemed even more so. I glanced over at Jasper, knowing that he had come to the same conclusion. I sighed. "Do you wanna go, or should I?" He gestured for me to go, as he had almost every single time before. Apparently he was more than happy to let me be the one with all the yelling and stress.

"Guys, stop. Edward." Edward looked up, a little confused, before he realized what I had come to do. Again. He came over warily. "Edward, you already know what I'm gonna say. I know that it's just not who you are, but let me tell you something. What if it just comes down to you? Would you just let us die, or would you fight for us? For Alice? When the time comes down to it, would you still hold back and let them beat you? And kill all of us?" I really didn't want to yell. At this point I just wanted him to realize that he couldn't hold back in real life. And he had to be prepared as possible. This meant letting himself go a little. After I told him this, he sighed.

"I know I just…I don't want to have to hurt anyone." I nodded in empathy.

"I know, but you have to try to try a little harder. It's all practice." Stepping back, I announced to everyone, "How about Emmett and Edward spar?" I figured Edward would let himself loosed up a little, and we could see if Emmett decided to listen to me yet or not.

Everyone nodded, and I walked back to where Jasper was standing. Apparently Edward took my words to heart, and since Emmett didn't exactly want to be last still, he was actually making an effort to be lighter on his feet. I sighed in relief. Finally.


	15. Lauren's Suspension

**Chapter 15: Lauren's Suspension**

* * *

><p>Today was interesting, to say the least. We'd had another run-in with Lauren Mallory, although she seemed kind of unimportant compared to our other problem.<p>

She'd tried to 'make our lives hell', as promised. She failed miserably.

_We were eating lunch, as usual when all of a sudden the fake blonde called Lauren and her entourage strutted over. I rolled my eyes. She didn't know when she'd been beat._

"_So I just, like wanted you to, like, know that I am going to, like, make your life hell." She had such a nasal voice. It was like listening to nails on a chalkboard. Ugh._

"_Oh, really?" asked Rose, with her right eyebrow raised. Her ice queen façade had gone up again._

"_Totally," said the other girl in the group. I think her name was…Jessica? "You're going to regret ever messing with Lauren." I could tell that she was the follower that made Lauren feel good about herself. And from the way they looked at Mike, I could tell that Jessica was hopelessly in love with him, but he was lusting after Lauren. _

"_Are we now?" I asked doubtfully. Because I really doubted that they could make me regret anything. First of all, they annoyed me. Second, I had faced a lot worse than them._

"_You don't know who you're messing with, you whore." Oh, you don't know who you're calling a whore, whore._

"_I could really care less who you think you are. You're a stuck up bitch, and really, you're not even worth my time." She better not call me a whore again. I could tell my friends were a little pissed as well. We were close now. You mess with one of us, you mess with us all. For some reason, Jasper looked a little extra pissed, even more so than I was._

_She didn't know what was good for her. She turned her heavily made up eyes towards the guys and batted them. I was surprised clumps of mascara didn't fall from her eyelashes. She stuck her chest and butt out, clearly trying to look sexy. She didn't know that it just made her look like a fat duck. _

"_Hey, handsomes. Why don't you ditch these sluts and like, sit with me instead?" Emmett seriously looked like he was going to throw up in his mouth. Us girls were just pissed._

"_Umm..no," he said, clearly freaked out. I didn't blame him._

"_Oh, come on. You clearly want me." Nothing was farther from the truth, bitch. The guys were clearly repulsed. Jasper, having the unfortunate closest position to her, scooted casually closer to me._

"_Umm…no." Wow, Emmett. You are soooo smart. Lauren pouted like a little girl. She turned her attention to Edward now._

"_What about you, sexy?" Edward's eyes grew comically wide, and he shook his head violently. Lauren pouted even more. "Are you sure?" Edward nodded vigorously. It was actually kind of funny, but I was too pissed to laugh. Rose was pissed off that Lauren was trying to seduce the guy she liked, and so was Alice. I hoped that Lauren didn't try to come on to Jasper, for her own sake. For some reason, I felt extremely possessive, but I shook it off. He was my friend, it made sense that I didn't want her anywhere near him._

"_Oh well, who cares about those two. You're more my type, anyway. Why don't you come have some _fun _with me?" she said in a little girl voice. Oh, hell no. She did not just try to get Jasper. He glared at her, a glare that should have put the fear of God into her, and get anyone with any brains would have backed off. Jessica and Mike both looked scared. Instead she leaned in, and put her hand on his shoulder. Big mistake._

_His entire body went rigid, as he was trying to control himself and not make a scene. In a quiet but nonetheless deadly voice, he told her to get her hand the fuck off of him, or he would break it for her. Lauren wisely backed off. She seemed like she finally started to get scared. Good. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before he got kicked out of school._

_Lauren just didn't know when to stop. She whispered, in what I think was supposed to be a seductive voice that if he came to his senses, he was welcome to go crawling back to her. I couldn't let her go on any longer. I stood up, so that I was face to face with her plastic nose._

"_It would be wise of you to leave. Now." I could tell that she was scared, even though she tried to brush it off. My tone was all business, and she instinctively knew that I meant it. I could kill her now if I wanted to, I just was choosing not to. She finally strutted away, with what pride she had left. Which was little._

"_She's not worth our time," Rose spit out. I could tell she hated her as much as I did._

I had agreed with her. Lauren Mallory certainly wasn't worthy of my time. But Lauren would not give up.

"_Ha! You're right!" I told Emmett. The red gummy bear was the most depressed and suicidal._

_Grinning, he replied, "I know I am!"_

_Chuckling, I told him to go on ahead. I had to wash my hands. I walked into the girls' bathroom. Lauren and Jessica were there, as well as some more of her mindless followers. Four girls total. They seemed like they were waiting for me. I contemplated leaving, but that would make it seem like I was scared of her. One of her cronies moved to block the door behind me. Were they going to…try to fight me? I scoffed at the idea. I subconsciously shifted my stance, ready for anything._

"_I told you we'd make your life hell," Lauren said, with a stupid looking smirk on her face. I raised my eyebrow. Did she really think she, even with three backup henchmen, could take me? She motioned for one of them to attack._

_She came at me, aiming a punch at my face. I easily dodged it and hit her on a spot I knew would stun her for a while and let her drop. I resumed my stance and smirked at Lauren. She looked slightly put off, but sent the Jessica forward anyways. I easily dropped her, and she lay on the ground, moaning. Lauren looked a little scared now, but she got the girl behind me to charge, anyways. I flipped her over my head as she tried to grab at my hair, and she landed hard on her back, knocking the air out of her. Now it was just Lauren left, and she hesitated._

"_I'd stop if I were you," I warned Lauren. But she reached out with her fingernails poised like claws, obviously trying to scratch my face, instead, I caught her left arm, and spun her around, using her forward momentum, so that I had her arm bent awkwardly behind her. If she struggled, she'd only hurt herself. I pushed her forward slightly, and she screeched in pain. I then let go of her and pushed her down. Too easy._

_I stood in the center of four girls, all trying to recover on the floor. Because I'm just so lucky like that, a teacher just happened to walk in._

"_What is going on here?" she shouted. Lauren managed to stand back up, trying to get her hair out of her mouth, and straighten her clothes._

"_She-she attacked us!" she accused, pointing at me._

"_Yeah!" came a shout from Jessica, who was massaging the back of her neck._

"_Is that what happened? Did she really attempt to cause harm to all four of you?" I could tell the teacher was skeptical._

"_Ma'm, that's not what happened at all. I came in here to wash my hands, but they were waiting for me. They attacked me. She," I gestured to the girl who had been flipped, "blocked the door, and Lauren made the others attack me. I defended myself, and asked her to stop, but she wouldn't. She tried to scratch me, so I reacted. I'm sorry that they suffered harm, but I was acting in self defense!" I could be respectful when I needed to be. I spoke the truth, but due to my reputation, I had to act a little bit, to convince her that it was, in fact, true._

"_No! That-don't listen to her! She's crazy! We didn't do anything to provoke her! She just started attacking us!" Lauren, you liar._

"_Ma'm, I told you the truth! I wouldn't hurt Lauren! She's hated me for a while now, but I don't know why! I had to protect myself, please!" I was really acting the part of bullied and stressed student now. Her expression softened, and I knew that she believed me. With the mindset that she was saving a bullied student, she took the girls to the principal's office, and told her my version of events. Lauren got suspended for two weeks and her cronies each got one. They were lucky._

I sighed, at least I didn't have to worry about killing her for two sweet, sweet weeks. She hated Rose, and disliked Alice, but it now seemed like she was going to make it her mission to 'get revenge' on me. She had no idea what I was capable of, and she was too stupid to realize that I was not to be messed with.

"Hey, Izz-attack!" Oh, Emmett. All of us were hanging out at my house, as usual. "Where did you just go?"

"Izz-attack?" He shrugged. "I didn't go anywhere."

"Oh really? So you weren't just in your head?"

"I wasn't."

"Then what did I just say?" I always had a part of my brain monitoring things, no matter how caught up I was in my thinking. It worked alongside the part of my brain that was always assessing threats, and making exit routes.

"You said that you wanted to fight me." Stupid, stupid Emmett. Did he have a death wish?

"Well, yeah. I got a lot better. So I'm challenging you to a fight." I raised my eyebrow. Wow, I was hanging around Rose too often.

"Oh, really? You do realize I'd beat you in under a minute?"

"I don't think so," he provoked. I'd have to put him in his place.

"Alright. Let's find out." He looked surprised that I was actually taking him up on his offer. He recovered quickly, a bright smile lighting up his face. We stood up, and led the group downstairs.

"I've gotta see this," Jasper mumbled, smiling in anticipation. Rose and Alice were placing bets in how quickly I'd kick Emmett's ass.

I walked to the center of the room, where all the sparring took place. I took my stance and waited for Emmett to attack. He charged forward, forgetting all my advice on not doing just that. It was too easy. I moved to the side and stuck out my leg to trip him. His face showed nothing but shock as he almost went down. He caught himself just in time, though. By that time I had turned to face him.

"What did I tell you not to do?" I asked him, a smirk on my face. He sighed, seeing his mistake, and this time, wisely, waited for me to strike. Usually I wouldn't, forcing my opponent to, but I decided to humor him. I feinted to my left, and when he started to dodge to my right to avoid me, I quickly shifted directions. I made sure to land just slightly behind him, turning as I landed in a crouch to sweep his feet out from under him. I didn't really want to hurt him, so I went easy. He still dropped within a minute.

I stood over him, and put a hand on my hip, "Told you so."

He groaned, and muttered his defeat. I offered him a hand up, and braced myself. I knew he would try to pull me down. Instead I just let him fall to the ground again. I smiled cheekily.

"Okay, so maybe I need to learn a bit more," he admitted. I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Emmett had his pride.

I looked over and saw Alice smirking while Rose handed her some money. She did bet against someone who could see the future. What did she expect?

Emmett had stood up by then, and grinned at me. "Or maybe a lot." I couldn't help but smile in return.


	16. It's All Fun and Games

**Chapter 16: It's All Fun And Games Until Someone Tries To Sneak Into Your House.**

"So, it's finally Friday." We were lounging around my house again, after another long week of school. I rolled my eyes at Emmett.

"And the sky is blue, and the sun comes up every day, and my eyes are brown. Are we done stating the obvious?" I was feeling just a tad bit bitchy today.

"Whoa there, Izzy. I was just trying to start a conversation," he whined, sticking his lower lip out in a childlike pout. I poked him in the arm.

"I know brother-bear." He grinned at my newest nickname for him.

"I think I like that one." I grinned back. He always made me feel at ease with his antics.

"So…" he drifted off, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Uh-oh. Watch out everyone, he's thinking! We should all take cover!" I was only half teasing. He had a knack for getting us into trouble. Usually it required either Jasper or Edward's skills of talking us out of it. Edward could always say the right things because of his ability, and Jasper, well; he always seemed to have a naturally calming effect anyway. Plus he was pretty charismatic and charming when he needed to be.

Rose smirked and joined on in with my teasing. "Maybe we should call in the SWAT teams!" she crowed in mock horror.

"Good idea! Maybe we can convince them into airlifting him to a secure mental facility!" Emmett seemed amused to see us getting along so well, seeing as to how we had first behaved when we met. He didn't seem to mind that it was all to his expense. I thought back to when he confided in me that he really like Rose. I wondered why he hadn't asked her out yet. It'd been a while. Maybe he was just biding his time for the perfect time.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he'd drive everyone in there insane." Emmett pouted for our benefit, before getting us back on topic.

"What I was thinking was about what we're going to do about Victoria and James." Jasper and I immediately tensed slightly, the names getting us on our guards. I sighed, dropping all humor and abruptly shifting to seriousness.

"We've been training to fight them," Emmett continued, "but what are we actually going to do when the time comes?" Jasper and I glanced at each other. We had gone over countless strategies and plans.

"Well, Emmett, Izzy and I are prepared. We have come up with a counter for anything they can throw at us." Emmett nodded, trusting us. Everybody seemed fairly content with letting us lead, and worry about things like that.

"Well, yeah, but what are we going to do about our parents? School?" This was something that we hadn't really worked out. It wasn't something we were really as concerned about, really.

"Well, we can't really come up with something until we know when the time will be. And really, we'd have to wait until just about last minute unless Alice has another vision. So we can't exactly do anything except wing it when the time comes." I could tell this made Jasper uncomfortable. He liked to have everything certain so he could be ready and prepared when the time came.

Emmett nodded, seeing the logic. We all sat in silence for a while. Emmett couldn't take silence long before feeling the need to start up a conversation, though.

"Hey, Jasper, didn't you mention that you could understand Morse code once?" Jasper looked slightly confused, but went along with it, nodding. I didn't know that about Jasper.

"Cool, I know some, too." I tapped out a message to him, hoping that it was right. I only knew the basics, after all. _Dot, dash dash, dash dash, dot, dash, pause. Dot dot, dot dot dot, pause. Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, pause. Dot dash dash, dot, dot dot, dot dash dot, dash dot dot, end.*_ He smirked.

Impervious to my message, Emmett continued on. "If one of you were to hear a tap dancer, would it drive you crazy?" We both shook our heads at him, amused. He was such an individual person. "Well?" To his disappointment, we refused to answer him. He huffed in annoyance. His odd question had set the mood for the rest of the evening. It passed by with more humorous speculation and banter.

"You know all the teachers hate me, right?" I asked incredulously. Emmett had just suggested that I talk a teacher into one of his insane pranks. They didn't suspect a thing about him, they couldn't find a possible culprit for any one of them.

"So? I know for a fact that you can be very persuasive."

"Yeah, but only to a point. I'm not magical."

"Fine. But you know who are magical?"

Knowing where this was going, I replied the way he wanted me to. "Who?"

"Alice and Edward," he replied with ease, turning to the duo.

"Magical, Emmett?" Edward scoffed. It was entertaining how he feigned annoyance whenever Emmett joked about him.

"Yes, Edward. Magical like a monkey eating rainbows as he rides around on his quadricorn that shits sparkles and butterflies." I had to hand it to Emmett, he said that all with a perfectly straight face. The rest of us laughed, while Edward rolled his eyes.

I was feeling pretty high on dopamines in my brain, so I plopped myself on Rose's lap. She seemed surprised.

"Hey, Emmett?" I asked innocently.

"Yeah, Izzy?" He replied, a wary look on his face.

"I was wondering."

"Wondering what?"

"If we could make a sandwich." He looked at me like I was out of my mind.

"What?"

"Oh, you know, I sit on Rose's lap, she sits on yours." Puzzled, he agreed, seeming curious as to where I was going with this. He hefted Rose, with me still on her, into his lap with his bodybuilder strength. I then accidentally 'slipped off of her, and quickly took a picture of them on my phone.

"Awwwww, you guys look so cuuuuuute!" Alice squealed, seeing the picture. Rose blushed, something I never thought I'd see. Emmett looked a little bashful, also something I thought I'd never see. They looked at each other hesitantly, a little embarrassed. It _was_ pretty cute.

Rose moved to get out of Emmett's lap, but I stopped her before she could. "Wait, don't move yet! You two look so adorable!" She looked even more embarrassed, but I could tell she really didn't want to move. She stayed. Emmett looked pretty happy about that. Alice and I did a mini high-five. Edward and Jasper looked mildly amused by our antics.

"Stay, right there!" I exclaimed, motioning to them with my hands. "I need to go get something!" I ran up the stairs, all excited to get back down, when I realized that someone was prowling around outside my house. I froze for a second, cursing myself for being too caught up and not realizing it sooner. I could tell that they hadn't been there very long, though. I knew exactly where they were, I could sense them. I hesitantly moved forward, keeping my senses open. I had only a tank top and some shorts on, but I always had a couple knives with me. I slid one out and advanced to my window, making sure to keep out of sight of it. I could tell that the prowler was trying to sneak inside. And he had just noticed this window was slightly open. I tensed, to the left of the window, waiting for them to come closer.

"Izzy?" I heard Jasper whisper. He had sensed them as well, after presumably coming up to look for me. I gestured for him to come near without turning around. He stood by the other side of the window, ready and waiting as well. I finally heard the footsteps come closer, and a shadowy figure lean over and push it open with a grunt. The figure crawled through the window, and I immediately knocked the intruder over the back of the head with the hilt of the knife. They immediately went limp and fell on the floor. I groaned, seeing who it was. Well, hell.

**AN/: So, I felt like writing, after receiving a nice review, as they always give me motivation :). It's kind of a filler, and pretty short, but...well...**

***All Morse code comes from Wikipedia, so it may not exactly be accurate. I have absolutely no idea. So, if it's wrong, I apologize. I also didn't know any way to describe it but with dots and dashes, even though she was tapping…so….yeah…**


	17. The Unnamed Henchman

**Chapter 17: The Unnamed Henchman**

"Do you know this guy?" Jasper asked quietly as we sat around the body. We had dragged him into a small concrete room off of the main basement that had nothing in it. It was basically just a concrete cube with a strong door. It had probably been a storage room before I bought the house. We had then duck taped him to a chair. I had personally never actually questioned someone before, and I was mainly going off of, laughably, movies. Sure I was a fighter, but I wasn't gang-affiliated. As far as I knew, neither were the rest of us.

"No. But I know why he's here."

"Why?" asked Alice, perched next to me.

"To spy on us. Threaten us. Scare us. James sent him." That bastard always did like to play games. He wouldn't get any satisfaction over just ambushing us, because he got off on the fearful anticipation and dread that usually came with news of his intentions. I explained this for Alice, Edward, Rose, and Emmett's benefits.

"So this guy was supposed to freak us out?" The contempt was clear in Alice's voice. She couldn't be blamed. This guy was obviously new. James had a small gang that he liked to use to do whatever he wanted and to brag about. But it had little influence or manpower. Apparently he was trying to change that by recruiting a bunch of henchmen. He didn't even think that I was enough of a threat to send a properly trained one.

"Pretty much. He was probably going to sneak into my room while I slept and give me a warning about James. This was most likely his first assignment." I then explained the part about James' 'gang' , if you could even call them that.

Emmett was sprawled lazily out on the floor, Rose sitting next to him. "Why isn't he awake yet?" he asked. He then scooted over next to the still-unconscious guy and prodded him with his foot a bit. The Unnamed Henchman groaned and twitched his bound leg a little. Emmett prodded him some more. The UH groaned a little bit more and made shooing motions with his foot towards the general direction of Emmett's. I stifled a chuckle. Emmett's face was the picture of concentration. His eyebrows were knitted together, nose scrunched up, and his mouth in an adorable pout. It was teddy-bear cute. I couldn't help but notice that Rose seemed to think so too.

UH rolled his head a little bit and seemed to start coming back to the land of the conscious. He sat up, and Jasper and I immediately stood, the others following our lead. I didn't like being at the same level or lower than others, physically, if I could help it, and I could tell it was much the same for him. Although he probably had more luck with that concept than I did, since he was tall and I was kind of not. U.H. opened his eyes slowly and was treated to the sight of me, arms crossed and expressionless mask on my face. I had been told before that the two times that I was most scary were when I was really pissed off, and when I had no expression at all.

Jasper stood to my right, in a similar stance. Arms crossed, feet shoulder-width apart. He had his don't-fuck-with-me face on. I hadn't seen that look before. If it was directed at me, it might've actually been slightly intimidating. I knew that it would be downright scary to anybody else. Emmett stood to the right and slightly behind him, while Rose was in the same position but to my left. Alice and Edward brought up the rear, so that we formed an arrow shape with me and Jasper at the front. My friends all had their tough faces on, as well, except Rose, who had taken up her Ice Queen persona and looked completely indifferent. All in all, it was kind of an intimidating scene to wake up to. At least that was what I was counting on. Because really, I didn't want to have to torture him. But I would if I had to. I couldn't let my friends get hurt because of me.

"Hello, Sleeping Beauty," Jasper smirked. There wasn't any mirth in this smile, however. It was the kind of smile that promised bad things. Honestly, it made me a little more attracted to him than usual. I know, there's something wrong with me.

U.H.'s eyes went insanely wide. This was obviously more than he was expecting. He was probably expecting one barely competent fighter. James always did underestimate people. Or more like, he always overestimated himself. Well, there were six of us. And one of him. And he was nowhere near skilled enough to take all of us. I knew it, he knew it, we all knew it.

I took out one of my hidden knives and placed it delicately underneath his chin, just hard enough so that the blood came to the surface of the skin, but it didn't drip out. He gulped. Definitely new.

"Now, I don't know about you, but I don't like it when someone so rudely…breaks into my house, hmm?" I whispered in his ear. He shivered. "So, would you mind telling the class why you're here?" I was leaning in close next to him, so close I could see the goose bumps my breath left on his skin. I drew idle patterns on his skin with the tip of my knife, fascinated by the small trails it left behind on the surface of his neck. I slowly made my way upwards, so that my knife was now at the point where his neck met his chin, and he gulped again, a slight shiver making its way down his spine. I could tell he was scared for his life, and the sadistic side of me was hypnotized by the signs of his fear. "Well?" I practically purred.

He licked his lips and spoke in a parched voice. "Um, Ja-James. James sent me. I wasn't go-going to do anything! I swear! He-he just wanted me to-to scare you or something. W-warn you." I pressed the knife ever so gently against his jugular, making him stop speaking suddenly, breathing heavy.

"I guess it didn't exactly go the way you planned, now did it?" I chuckled darkly, my breath fanning softly across his cheek. It made him wince slightly, and I internally scoffed. Coward. I hadn't even done anything to him yet. I slinked over to his other side, leaning over next to his other ear. "You know what would make me so, very happy?" I asked. He nodded hesitantly. Good boy.

"If you told me…" I placed the knife delicately above his Adam's apple. "…everything that you know about James." He nodded again. He made a small squeaking sound, and I mentally rolled my eyes. This guy was almost too easily intimidated. I was going on some kind of trained instinct by now, and I had no idea what I was really doing. Although it felt like I had done something like this before, something that was pretty much the same thing, yet slightly different. I shook off that odd thought. I had never interrogated anybody before, as far as I knew.

"You gonna tell the lady anytime soon?" asked Jas, a hint of his drawl creeping through. He winked at him, but it wasn't the kind of mischievous wink that put you at ease. This wink promised dark things in the future, like his smirk had earlier. And I liked it. I really did.

UH gulped again, and opened his mouth to speak. "About time," Jas muttered.

"Nobody likes James that much, but we've all heard bad things about those who crossed him. So when he went around recruiting for his little gang, nobody said no. For my first assignment, he made me come here to warn you. He also told me to spy on you, and report back to him. He said there were only going to be two." He paused, looking a little confused by this, but, wisely, continued. "He said that one was a female, that went by Izzy but was actually Femme Nakita, the unbeatable street fighter. And that the other one was blonde, male, and kind of threatening-looking. He said that the second one never told anyone his name, and that he didn't have a fighter name, but he was also undefeated." I was slightly surprised about the whole name thing, but I didn't let it show.

"What do you know about James' plans?" I asked. I knew that James probably wouldn't have told him anything in case this exact scenario played out, but I had to make sure.

He shook his head, but then paused. He looked like maybe he was remembering something. He hesitated, before saying, "Well, he never told me anything, but I overheard him and this bitch named Victoria that she better not fuck up his plans again. Seemed like she had messed something up, so they had to postpone things until about three and a half months from now. Then he said that if she didn't screw anything up, she could get him." At this, he nodded his head towards Jasper. "Apparently she took a liking to him."

My anger flared higher. That bitch wanted Jasper? For some reason, I felt a spike of jealousy. I shook my head. I had no sort of claim on Jasper. I was just his friend, and didn't want him to have to suffer through being with that bitch, I told myself. _Sure, _said my inner bitch, but I shook her off.

"Well, you've been…very cooperative," I informed him, my voice a deadly calm. I had to work a little harder to keep my poker face, what with all the anger coursing through my veins, but I showed no outward signs. "Listen closely, because this is what you're going to do." I had every intention of making him cross James and be our inside source of information, but then I remembered how weak willed he was. I placed my knife back under his chin, and whispered in his ear.

"You are going to call James and tell him that you couldn't complete this task he has given you. And you will _keep your mouth shut. Is that clear?_" I hissed. He flinched and nodded his head meekly. I slunk back around his chair so that I was up in his face. "Good." He was far too scared to go against me, and I knew that. I smiled evilly, and his eyes widened even more. I then proceeded to knock his ass out again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

After dragging the guy out far enough, and leaving him there, we all went back to my basement. All my friends slept here enough that they spent more time here than at their own houses. I knew that Emmett's Nonna was just happy that her son had what she called, 'positive influences', and Jasper and Edward's mom felt much the same. The rest of us didn't really have anyone. Alice and Rose had confided that even though they loved their mothers, since they were their mothers, they didn't really feel like family, and hadn't for a while. They even went so far as to say their mothers were probably just glad to be rid of them for a while. I understood how they felt, and made no comments on the subject.

Everyone had taken over a guest room, and had kind of their own 'rooms away from their rooms', if you will. Okay, that sounded stupid even in my head. Anyways, that's where they slept now, so that they didn't have to sleep on the couches and the floor. They even had their own closets where they kept clothes. I, of course, didn't mind. It was nice having all my friends pretty much living with me.

"So…I'm guessing we're not going to get to do my prank?" Emmett asked, effectively breaking the ice.

"For once Emmett, you're right." Oh, Rose. You know you love him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

I knew I was going to have another one of those weird dreams tonight as soon as my head hit the pillow, just like I had last time.

_Maria's been getting antsy lately. I've never had the displeasure of meetin' her yet, but I can tell, by the way the Major's been acting lately. He seems tenser than usual. Of course, I'm still relatively young, so I wouldn't know, but from all the heresay around the camp, he's the one who comes up with all the strategies that make Her so successful. He's the oldest around here, other than Her, yet he has no problem taking down us Newbies, who are apparently stronger and faster. I don't know about that. Apparently the job of talking her out of her crazy schemes falls to him as well. I keep my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open. I need to stay one step ahead. I need to know everything I can._

_The guards are coming. They're early. I am filled with dread. My fears are confirmed by the grim looks on their faces. We are to fight._

_I am standing on a large field full of snarling Newbies like me, although they are a lot more feral today, because we have been starved and promised our source of energy only if we win. They are all ready to go and hanging onto what little control they have by a thread. That thread is comprised of the threats of dismemberment that They have made. We are waiting for something. From what I know, I assume that we are waiting for the enemy army, also made up of Newbies, as starved and motivated as we are, although hopefully not as trained. I'm not fighting to win, I wouldn't give Her that satisfaction. I am merely fighting to survive. To do that, I know I will have to surrender my body to my dark side, but I can't surrender completely or else bad things will happen. I don't know what, exactly, but bad things. Since word got to Maria about my special talent, I know She most likely will not cull me with the other Yearlings when the time comes, but that doesn't change anything if I die on the battlefield._

_Also because of my talent, I am not on the front line. I am positioned a little farther back, because apparently Maria does not want my gift to go to waste, and I know that the Newbies on the front line are practically dead. Or more like, re-dead. _

_The other army is coming into view. There are slightly fewer of them, this I can tell, although I don't know why. They are running towards us. I know that It will be starting soon. My first Battle. I take a deep breath in, filling my lungs with the scents of everything around me, although it is unnecessary. I close my eyes for just a second, my other senses on high alert to make up for the loss of sight. My darker side purrs gently as she is awakened, opening her tawny eyes. For some reason, I picture her as a panther, dark as midnight, curled around that little cage in the back of my mind that has started to rattle. She stretches, arching her back and flexing her lean muscle. Shaking her dark fur out, she chuckles in my brain._

_She is now licking her paw smugly, and asks me if I've figured out her name yet. As she says it, it pops into my head. loki. Lowercase 'L'. Something tells me that's important. She purrs again, in approval, and I smirk. I let her fill my body until she is almost completely me. I hold onto that last part of me, though, because I need to be somewhat in control. I don't know how I know this, but, like everything else, I am certain of it._

_At this point, the other Army has almost reached us. Newbie eyes turn towards Them. They hesitate for only a fraction of a second, and as soon as the other Army is exactly 24 feet and 6 inches, a measurement my Newbie brain provides me with, effortlessly, They give the signal to charge. Snarling body meets snarling body as our Armies clash. We surge forward, and as expected, our front line collapses. More and more of us fill the gap, and I know that casualties on both sides have only begun._

_Amidst the chaos of it all, I stand, balanced on the balls of my feet, coiled for an attack. Suddenly, I let loki spring, and all I know is a mass of torn limbs. She is vicious, tearing apart any Newbies that come her way. I don't know whether the Newbie she is decimating is friend of foe. She tears them all apart. My eyes are narrowed, and black as coal, venom dripping down my chin. The cage at the back of my mind starts to rattle, but I know I can't let whatever it contains to escape, so I concentrate on holding it in. Another name pops into my mind. Loki. With a capital 'L'. Huh. I concentrate all my efforts on holding Loki in as loki tears, rips, and tosses the pieces of Newbie into a burning bonfire in the middle of the field._

_Through her murderous rage, I see death and gore all around me. But I know it is not all me. Most of the other Newbies that came into this with me are dead. There are a few, but they are mostly crouched at the far right corner of the field, reattatching limbs and watching me warily. There is not one Newbie of the other side still alive. Slowly, loki retreats into my mind, curling herself around the caged Loki contentedly. I pant, unnecessarily, in the middle of the field. I slowly relax my fingers from their curled claws, and use my senses to scan the area for threats. My body still tense, I realize that They are all standing over by the injured Newbies, staring at me with slight fear and shock. Maybe a little awe._

_I feel like I am coming down from a human adrenaline high, my lips curled into a deadly smile. I discover that while this life may be horrid, I quite like the rush of Death._

**AN/: So, that's all for today! I was going to post this yesterday, but I didn't get it finished in time, so I figured, might as well save it for today! I want to thank TwilightAddict71484 for the whole "Loki" thing. Loki is apparently a Norse god, and is actually a very interesting character. Anyways, I couldn't be creative enough to come up with a different name for the third personality, so I just used the lowercase loki and the uppercase Loki to be two different sides of Dream Izzy. I also wanted to thank all of ya'll who reviewed. I didn't wanna get my hopes too high, since this is my first story, and all, but you truly made my day. And gave me motivation to write another chapter of this thing. So, thanks. *warm chocolate cookie neck hugs for everyone***


	18. Images

**Chapter 18: Images**

With a gasp, I woke from my dream. I couldn't get past the fact that these dreams, they all seemed like _memories,_ and yet, the…thing I was in them was clearly not human. I shook these thoughts off with a roll of my shoulders, and stretched all my muscles out, almost purring like a cat.

Ghosting upstairs, I began to make breakfast. I didn't feel like cooking, so I just poured out some cereal. The others hadn't gotten up yet, as it was the weekend, and they all liked to sleep in. Except Jasper, of course. I had learned that we shared a lot of the same quirks and had a lot in common. And I couldn't deny that he was damn hot. _Whoa, Izzy. Heel._ What? I speak the truth.

Giving my head a shake to clear it, I proceeded to spoon cereal into my mouth. Turning around and looking out the window above my kitchen sink, I hummed quietly to myself, eating breakfast and lost in my own little world. I heard the slightest creak of my floor and turned around, knowing it was Jasper. Jasper was the only one who could successfully sneak up on me, and I was right. Jasper stood there, leaning casually against my counter. And shirtless.

My eyes widened, and I stood there like an idiot. I let my eyes travel across his chest and over the finely toned muscle there, dropping down to his delicious looking abs. I noticed that he had some scars from fighting, and I fought the urge to lick them. Scars were a definite turn on. My eyes roamed downwards, and I had to swallow and forcefully yank them back up to his face. His eyebrow was raised and a smirk played on his lips. I turned around and wiped the milk from my mouth, slightly embarrassed at being caught blatantly checking him out. With my back still turned to him, I cleared my throat and managed to speak, my voice just slightly hoarse.

"Um, Jasper? Why, uh, do you not have a shirt on?" I asked, slowly turning around again, but keeping my eyes averted, staring at the floor to his right.

"My shirts were all dirty. Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?" He teased. Well, he was obviously comfortable in his own skin.

"Of...course not." Is he tryin' to kill me? I clear my throat again. "Well, it's Forks. It's gonna get cold, you know, if you keep walkin' around without a shirt."

"I see your point. I was just waitin' 'till Emmett or Edward woke up, to borrow a shirt from one of them." Whew. As much as I loved the sight of Jasper shirtless, I wasn't sure if I could last the entire day without melting into a puddle of goo. He was _that_ hot. And, apparently, I was _that _pathetic.

"Well, Emmett's bigger than you, and Edwards skinnier," I pointed out.

"True."

"Here, I think the previous owners left some clothes here. You can see if any fit you." I went over to a spare closet and gestured towards the small heap of clothes sitting inside. I had had no idea what to do with them. I was going to donate them to charity, just hadn't gotten around to it yet. He walked over and started searching for a suitable shirt. I leaned on the wall to the side of the closet, carefully averting my eyes from his shirtless back, and how his low riding jeans showed off his ass when he bent over. I mentally slapped myself. He's my best friend. I should stop drooling over him like a bitch in heat.

I turned to look at him only as he stood and pulled a t-shirt over his head. It fit him pretty well, but it was a little too tight. I could make out his muscles very clearly, but I guess it was still better than seeing him shirtless. He shook his dark blonde locks out of his eyes, and I swear it randomly went into slow motion, like in the movies. Cue the cheesy choir and sunlight shining directly on him. I shook myself. What the fuck?

He grinned at me, not knowing about the craziness going on in my head, and held his hands away from his body. "Better?"

"Ah, yeah. Um. It is. Better, I mean. You know, because of the, ah, cold, and all that." Now I started mentally cursing myself. Word vomit anyone? I never stumbled over my words like that. Well, apparently I did, when confronted by shirtless Jasper or Jasper in a tight shirt. Wow, I sound pathetic.

I stood away from the wall, and walked back towards the kitchen. Cereal. Yeah. That was safer. Or was I gonna start drooling over that too? Oh, god I certainly hope not. That would be kind of creepy.

_As creepy as eye-fucking your best friend?_

Oh, shut up. Now I'm hearing voices in my head, and they're making more sense than my regular thoughts. Maybe I'm goin' crazy. Maybe someone drugged my cereal.

_Suuure…_

Didn't I tell you to shut up? Sigh. Apparently this is what Jasper can do to me.

While I had been rambling on and on in my mind, the guy in question had poured himself a bowl of cereal and leaned next to me on the counter I was sitting on, by the sink. He seemed somewhat lost in thought as well, although aware, much as I had been, of everything going on around him. I realized that my attraction to him wasn't just because he was hot as hell, but also because of our similarities and for him as a person. And that's when I knew that I was well and truly fucked. Okay, maybe not literally, although that wouldn't be too bad, if it was by him…Get your mind out of the frikkin' gutter, Izzy.

Truth was, I was attracted to all of him. And that wasn't good. Because I couldn't afford to be distracted, ever. And he was certainly very distracting. I had to help prepare our friends for battle, with old enemies from the past. I had to make sure that they didn't come to harm in said battle, and I had to make sure that I wasn't more tied down than I already was. Because at this point, I could still walk away. It would hurt as hell, and I would probably be depressed, but if it meant keeping them safe than I could. But if I continued down this path with Jasper, I knew that I would never be able to walk away, even to keep him safe. Because I was fuckin' selfish, and I knew it.

Oh, come on, Izzy, again with the drama. Sure, it's true and all that, but I'm sure that this is only a stage, or something. It's probably all those hormones coming into play. Besides, even if you are attracted to him, and that fuckin' rope you feel pulling you to him, I doubt he feels the same way. You're friends. That's it. And don't go down the self-pity/self-doubt spiral again, because that's not gonna do anything, is it. Friends. That's not just a show.

_And denial isn't just a river in Egypt._

How many times do I have to tell you to shut up? And besides, that's a line that's old as dirt. Can't you at least come up with something new?

This is gonna be a long frikkin' day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

We were training again. We had been every weekend. What with them all coming in about three months from now. Shortly after interrogating U.H., Alice had had a vision confirming what he had said. She had only gotten a glimpse this time, a short clip of calendar pages being torn off and zeroing in on a certain week, and was only a little dizzy and disoriented afterwards. She shook it off pretty easily. It didn't escape my attention how Edward had seemed especially concerned even though he had gone through the same thing and had even taken a longer time to recover.

I also noticed how he was especially attentive towards her. I knew that she felt the same, because she would look at him when she though no one was watching. She would stare at him with the strangest expression. It was a mix of confusion, adoration, gratefulness, and conflict. She was grateful for someone who understood what she was going through, confused as to why she felt the way she did, adoring because she was falling for him, and conflicted for the same reason. Ever since she had opened up to us, she was acting a lot less spoiled. And they had been spending a lot more time together.

Rosalie and Emmett had been spending alone time together a lot, also. I already knew that Emmett was planning to ask her out, I just wanted to shout at him to do it already. She clearly was interested too. With all my friends pairing up together, Jasper and I had kind of been forced to spend time together, just the two of us. Because of this, we were becoming very close. He knew more about me now than anyone else. I knew him a lot too. He told me about his past and I told him about mine. We shared all the gritty details. We shared all the private moments of hope and happiness. I'd only known him for so long, but if felt like I'd known him forever.

It felt like I had known them all since forever.

And I was freaked out.

I just tried not to think about it too much.

"Alright, good form, Alice. Emmett, your feet are too wide apart. Rose, very good. Edward, no holding back." I had decided that today would be a punching bag day. I had bought a few more so that everyone could focus on punching. I'd also taught them how to wrap their own hands so that they wouldn't break anything. I usually took more charge in training them, because Jasper hadn't actually taught anyone to fight, and I had. Although that was only one person…Jacob. A dull echo of pain shot through my heart, but I ignored it. No use dwelling in the past. Jacob was the one thing I hadn't told Jasper. Well, I told him about Jacob, but just not what happened to him. Not what I had done to him.

I noticed that Edward still was holding back. He was good in theory, but his hits were too hesitant to actually do anything. I guess it just wasn't in his nature to be any sort of violent. I sighed internally. I guess I'd have to give him yet another talk. Making a mental note to do just that later, I continued inspecting them.

Alice was focused intensely, her dainty eyebrows furrowed. She was determined, I'd give her that. I think that she really realized that this could be life or death.

Rose had a lot of pent up aggression. She was almost ferocious sometimes. She was probably the best fighter out of all of them, the way she struck. You had to wonder what she was thinking of. My best guess was her dad.

Emmett was a brawler. And while that might serve him well in a bar fight, it wasn't as effective when both parties were sober. He needed to work a little more on his overall technique. He started listening to me a little more, but he was just too stubborn to fully let it sink in. I'd have to have another talk with him, and hope I finally got through his thick skull.

Overall, they were pretty competent. My plan was to make sure they could handle a fight on their own before teaching them to work together in pairs or as a group, because that's what would work the best in our situation. Jasper and I had also been working on a few techniques as a pair, because fighting in groups was rarely done in the fights. But having a whole bunch of fighters and just unleashing them doesn't work as well as having a well-trained team working together and watching each others' backs.

Or even just one more person watching out for you.

Jacob used to be that person. So was my dad. They both died. I didn't think I could handle it if another did too.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"Hey, Jasper." We were all sitting about on the floor, lounging around and just enjoying that limp feeling you get after a good workout. Edward had just gotten a text.

"Yeah?"

"Mom wants us home tonight. In a few hours."

"Alright."

Edward decided that he would leave first, since he wanted to spend a little more family time with his mom. Rose and Alice then decided that they wanted to go home for the night too, but that Alice would go to Rose's house so that they wouldn't be alone. Emmett said that he needed to go see his Nonna.

"And then there were two," Jasper said, almost lazily. "You wanna spar again? I feel like we didn't get as good of a workout just teaching."

"Yeah."

We started sparring again, and just like the other times, we were just having fun. We were equally matched, and it was a nice change. This time it ended with Jasper putting me in a friendly chokehold. I instinctively spun around while he was crossing his arm over my neck, so that I was facing him and his arm formed a bar against the back of my neck. I could have just escaped, which we both knew, but I felt like ending it, so I just turned instead. We were both panting lightly, with the silliest smiles on our faces.

I suddenly noticed how close we were. Something changed in the air between us. It seemed charged with electricity, and the stupid grins weren't there anymore. My eyes flickered between his stormy grays and his lips. I'd never noticed that his eyes were flecked with blue and green. I'd never noticed that his lips were that sexy, for a guy. I'd never noticed that his eyes could look like turbulent oceans. Our breathing was slowing down, and he moved ever so slowly towards me, his eyes focused on my lips. They felt dry all of a sudden, and I licked them. My eyes closed slightly, and we were just about to kiss…when all of a sudden he jerked back and dropped his arm like he had been scalded. He cleared his throat, not meeting my eyes.

"Uh, I…gotta go. Se-see you later." He hurriedly got his keys and all but fled upstairs. I stood there like an idiot, waiting until I heard the front door slam shut. With a sigh, I slowly walked up the stairs, hearing his truck start up.

**JPOV**

I should have kissed her. I really wanted to kiss her. I should have just pushed her up against the wall and kissed the hell out of her. Why did I have to run like a scared little puppy? I slammed my hand onto the dashboard. Why didn't I just kiss her?

I was going to kiss her, until I realized what I was doing. And then I ran like a little bitch. I hit the dashboard again, and rested my forehead on the steering wheel. I should go back and kiss her. It's not too late. Making up my mind, I turned off the ignition. I ran up her driveway, focused on one thing, and one thing only. Kissing Izzy.

I made my way up to her front door, hesitating a little before knocking. I was warring with myself. What if she didn't want me to kiss her? She'd probably be mad as hell after I just ran off like that. I was just about to go back when she opened the door.

**Izzy POV**

I was staring out the window, a little shocked he hadn't drove off yet. What had gone wrong? He should have kissed me. I should've kissed him. I had felt like I was standing on the edge of something. The precipice, and instead of falling, I was ready to leap off of the damn thing.

I saw him hit the dashboard, twice, before seeing him turn his car off and open the car door. I held my breath as I saw him run up the gravel driveway. I saw him hesitate in front of my door, his fist raised in the air to knock on it. I saw him start to turn away. I rushed over to the door and turned the lock, throwing the door open. I was a little confused. Did he leave something here? He stared at me, probably shocked from the door opening like that.

Then he smiled breathlessly, and turned towards me fully, bringing a hand up to my cheek. He gently moved his thumb across my cheekbone, and I felt my eyelids flutter without my consent. He leaned in, and this time…he kissed me.

His lips were moving across mine, and I responded enthusiastically, my hands moving themselves until they were fisted in his deliciously soft curls. His arm wrapped across the small of my back, and I smiled into the kiss. He chuckled, his breath minty.

There weren't any fireworks like in the books. But it did feel like the entire world faded away, and there was only him. I sounded like an obsessed teenager in my mind, but I didn't care. Those thoughts were just buzzes in the background of _him. Jasper._ He slid his tongue into my mouth, and I bit it, softly, in a playful way. He chuckled again, the noise sending shivers down my spine, in the good way. It was rough and hoarse and _all Jasper._

Our tongues danced across each other, and I knew that I had found my new favorite activity. Sorry, training, but kissing Jasper is _so much better._

I felt a little high, almost giddy. I was kissing Jasper. And I giggled like a schoolgirl, but I didn't care. This was Jasper. He had always made me feel different than I had ever felt before.

All of a sudden, images started flitting across my mind, and by the sharp intake of breath, Jasper's as well. Random images, sometimes bits and pieces of conversation, they replaced each other too quickly, and I couldn't make anything out. Jasper and I were frozen, this sudden barrage of images and sounds and conversations playing out in our minds. I didn't know what to make of them. I couldn't make them stop. Just like the dreams, they seemed vivid, and real. Like memories.

As suddenly as they came, they stopped. I exhaled, not knowing I had been holding my breath until that moment. We broke apart, confused as all hell.

"What was that?" he asked, almost to himself.

"I have no idea."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"Wait, so you kissed Jasper?" Alice squealed, hugging-no, _strangling_ a pillow.

"Is that all you got out of it?" I asked, amused by her antics. She was just so…_Alice._

"No!" Alice looked a little offended. "I just thought I should clarify. You kissed _Jasper?_ As in, you _kissed _Jasper?"

"No matter how many times you say it, it's still going to be the same thing, Alice," Rose teased, poking Alice with her foot. "So you said it was kind of like the dreams? But in high speed?"

"I guess. There were just these…images. They kept on moving really fast, like someone was fast forwarding them. But some of them were like…clips of videos, you know? And I could hear some things too, like bits of conversations, and some screams. It was really weird, but they seemed like memories. I don't know. I sound crazy, don't I?" I had taken the opportunity of another one of Alice's Girls' Nights to tell them about what had happened.

"Well, not as crazy as Edward reading minds, or Alice seeing the future," Rose said, rolling her eyes at me. "Or even the dreams we were having."

I could see her point. "True. Hey, when are you and Emmett going to just make out already? The tension is incredibly thick. It's like this fog that constantly surrounds you two. He really likes you, you know."

Rose looked like she was going to blush. "Really?"

"Yeah. We can all see it, too," Alice chimed in. "Everyone but yoooouuu!" I shook my head at her hyperness. I felt really weird. I realized why. This seemed so…normal. Just three girlfriends talking about their love interests. I rolled my eyes at myself.

"Well, what about you and Eddie-boy?" Rose deflected. Now it was Alice's turn to look embarrassed.

"That obvious, huh." She shied away, using her pillow to block her face from view. "I do like him, a lot. He's just so…_sweet_, you know? Always the gentleman. And I feel like that's what I need, you know what I mean?"

Rose nodded, smiling. "Yeah. Emmett's like this big softy inside of that crunchy candy shell. He's just so adorable. I can't help but like him, you know? I was always this…ice queen, but he melted right through without me noticing."

"Awww, that's so cute!"Alice teased, giggling maniacally.

This time, Rose really did blush. I smiled. Normal. But those images were nudging at my brain, begging me to figure them out.


	19. Hesitations

**Chapter 19: Hesitations**

"Emmett, why do you want me to get that much soap?" I asked, amused. Emmett had tagged along on my grocery run. I had more than enough money to buy all our groceries, so I did. Turns out, plenty of rich people get off on seeing a 'little girl' take down a mountain of a man. Emmett was currently standing next to me with a wide eyed puppy-dog look on his face. I wasn't buying it.

"No reason," he said, using his best innocent voice. I decided to let it go, as I would most likely find out soon.

"O-kay. If you say so." I couldn't keep the suspicious tone from my voice. Turning back to the fruits and vegetables, I tried to judge which would be the freshest.

"Hey, when are you gonna ask Rose out already?" I tried to go for nonchalant and probably missed it by a decently sized country.

"Wh-what?" Emmett asked in shock, dropping a few bars of soap.

"You know, Rose. Blonde, beautiful. Hangs out with us? Hopelessly in love with you?"

Emmett snorted. "Yeah, right. I just…haven't found the right moment yet. Besides, she probably doesn't want me to. She's perfect, and I'm just…me." That made my anger flare up.

"Now listen to me, Emmett McCarty. First of all, Rose really likes you. But you haven't asked her yet, and she's starting to think that she's not good enough for you. You know what happened to her, she still feels a little like damaged goods, and you're making her feel more like that. I don't think that's what you want. So you better get over yourself and just ask her already, because I can't bear to see her feeling like that because of some delusion that you have about you not being good enough for her. Second of all, you better stop getting her hopes up by hinting that you like her like that and not doing anything about it, because God help me Em, even though you're like a brother to me, I will hurt you." And with that, I snatched up a head of lettuce and walked away, leaving him standing dumbstruck in the middle of the aisle. Mouth hanging open, and all that jazz.

I had to fight back a smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

I walked downstairs calmly, taking a bite out of my apple and humming to myself. I had just finished putting the groceries away, and had decided to get some homework done. I heard what sounded like Emmett and Edward having a conversation. I stopped just out of sight and listened in.

It sounded like Emmett was discussing what I had said to him at the grocery store. It was a little muffled but I could tell what they were saying if I leaned up against the wall.

"I'm telling you, man, she just about chewed my head off! She was worse than Nonna can be. But in a good way, because she was right. I need to get my head out of my ass and ask Rose out already. I can't believe it's already been this long and I haven't yet."

"I know what you mean. I really like Alice. And I haven't really liked anyone before, but Alice…she's just so…you know. I just don't want to ruin our friendship if she doesn't feel that way about me." Stupid boys. Couldn't they tell that Rose and Alice felt the same?

"So what should we do?" That seemed to stump them both. Rolling my eyes, I stepped into view.

"That's easy. You two should just man up and ask them, already." I took another bite of my apple, trying not to laugh. They looked like they had just been caught sexually harassing an alpaca. While dressed like ice cream cones.

They seemed frozen. Huh. I went over and poked Edward. Still no reaction. Shrugging, I took off for my room, humming some annoyingly catchy song I'd picked up from who knows where.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"Jasper, I'm bored," I complained, hanging upside down on his bed. Halfway to my room I had decided to go to Jasper's instead.

He chuckled to himself. "What do you wan' me to do about it?"

"I dunno. What are you reading?" I was trying to distract myself from the fact that Jasper had just taken a shower, and his hair was still all wet. Because then I'd start thinking about him in a towel. Or in the shower. And that would lead to me drooling all over his bed. Or, technically my bed, but still.

"Civil War book," he replied, turning a page. I didn't know he was a history buff. Huh.

"So, you for the North or the South?" I asked, attempting to make conversation.

"Ah, I'm more in it for the strategy. Although I have to say the South, if I had to pick. I _was _born in Texas, you know."

"Yeah. You know I was born in Georgia, so I guess I'd have to choose the same."

"Georgia, really?"

"Really. Though only until my dad died. Charlie. Then my mom moved us to Arizona, which I guess is still better than Forks, Washington. Why's it always so damned rainy? Is God pissing on this town, or what?" That earned me another chuckle from Jasper.

"Oh, I don' know 'bout that, darlin'." Ohh, Jasper with accent is sexy. That accent did things to me that should be illegal. And that _drawl._ Mmmm. Okay, did Emmett spike my breakfast?

"Mmm, I think so, cowboy. There ain't no question abou' it, God is pissin' on this lil' ol' town." My own accent wasn't quite as thick as his, as I had moved away when I was still young. I found out that deliberately trying to thicken it did not work very well. Jasper smirked. I guess he found that out too. _Do not comment_, I willed silently.

"Cowboy, huh?" Good boy.

"Well, it's either that or Tex." Jasper just kept right on smirking that knowing smirk. Why does this guy have to be this sexy? Even when he's being an ass…And why am I mentally using the word smirk so much? Hey, 'smirk' kind of sounds like 'smurf'. Maybe that's why.

Or maybe I really am high. Probably the latter. Heh. Latter sounds like ladder.

I really need to be checked out by the men in white coats. Maybe take a visit to the crazy farm.

"Emmett, I know you're out there," Jasper and I called at the same time. This sent me into a hysterical fit of giggles for some reason. Giggles. Wow. Maybe kissing Jasper had made me lose a few nuts and bolts up there. I'd gladly lose a few more though, if I got to kiss him again.

_Fangirl much, Izzy?_

Oh look, now the voices are back.

_Voices? So there's more than one of me? I feel so upset. No other voice can ever be as awesome as I am._

Sure.

_You know it's true._

All I know is that there's this really annoying voice in my head.

_Really? You might want to have that checked out._

Hardy har har.

"That's just creepy," Emmett muttered, opening the door and sticking his head in. "I was just trying to figure out whether or not to open this door and run the risk of seeing you two in a…compromising position." He was grinning that wide Emmett-grin the entire time.

"Why were you looking for us?" I asked, completely ignoring his comment.

"Just to warn you to walk carefully when you're in school tomorrow. And tell the rest that, will you? I'll be going…out." With that, he disappeared, still wearing that shit-eating grin.

"What do ya think that's about?" I wondered aloud. Jasper just shrugged.

"I guess we'll find out tomorrow."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"Emmett? You _soaped_ the school floor?" I asked incredulously. He just smirked and nodded. Smug asshole.

I had to admit, the results were pretty funny. Seeing all the teachers slip and fall was just priceless. The word got around to the students pretty quickly to walk carefully, so there weren't many slips there. But apparently the word hadn't gone around to Lauren and her…posse. As soon as she set one impractically-tall pink high heel inside the school, she was desperately trying to clutch anything to stop her fall. On her windmill-armed fall downwards, she had managed to accidentally pull Mike's pants down. Which was just an added bonus. But really, it was a beautiful fall, like something out of a comedy. And then Mike standing there, dumbstruck, eyes wide and pants less. It turned out he was a tighty-whitey kind of guy. As hilarious as it was, that pair of underwear was just a little too tight, and we were all scarred for life by the sight of his…thing. I didn't think it could even be considered a dick. It was that horrible. Seriously, it was like one of those tiny sausages wrapped in cheese cloth. I shuddered just thinking about it. And not the good kind of shudders, either.

We were in second period, a class I shared with Emmett. We never really paid attention in class, we usually just talked to each other. The teacher was an elderly man, a little hard of hearing, so he usually just lectured on and on. It turned out Emmett was used to just reading the textbook to himself and learning that way, since he usually had skipped class in favor of earning some money doing odd jobs around town. He usually learned on his own, and then just showed up for tests, knowing what day they were on through a few students in his classes.

Emmett, not being in attendance very often, didn't know a lot of kids, just the few that told him about tests. So, even though he was the only one, besides Rose that wasn't new at this school, a lot of people though he was anyway. He had only started attending school regularly this year, because he had finally saved enough money that he didn't have to go out and work for a while, and also since we were all at school, he had no reason not to.

"Well, I told you I was going to pull a prank, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but how did you even get enough time to soap the _entire_ school floor?"

"Oh, I can work very efficiently when I want to."

"Sure. And I'm to believe you had absolutely _no_ help whatsoever?" He just winked at me and pretended to concentrate on the lecture. After seeing that he wasn't going to be talking to me soon, I sighed and went through the time I'd been here in my mind.

I decided that I definitely liked who I was with my friends. I was a little less jaded, a little less tense, a little more carefree. I joked more, laughed more, smiled more. I smoked less, drank less, fought less. It was a nice change.

Then I thought about Jasper. Jasper, Jasper, Jasper. That little section of my brain that had been oh so aware of him ever since I first saw him in the parking lot had grown quite a lot. I'd only known him a few months, hell, I'd only known any of them a few months, but it felt like I had always known them. I thought about how I loved the way he spoke to and treated me, like I am his equal in every way. I thought about how I loved the way he would comfort me, but never coddled. I thought about the way I loved all his little quirks and mannerisms, and that he trusted me to know everything about his past. I thought about him. I thought about our kiss. It had been as if everything around me was fading away, and yet I had been so ultra-aware of everything at the same time.

_Playing the part of the lovestruck sap, now, huh?_

Oh you know that you love Jasper too.

…_._

What?

…_you said 'love'._

Shit! I did! But, you know, I meant it like a friend. I love Jasper the friend, and I like Jasper the…significant other?

_Suuuuure. Strongest case of denial I've ever seen._

Oh, just shut up.

_Ooookayyyy…_

Hmm. I definitely had to get my sanity checked out.

Due to all my thinking, I had apparently missed the bell ringing. I got up quickly, scooping up all my books and shit. Making my way out the door, I was stopped by none other than the STD-stick herself, Lauren. That's right, sadly, she was not suspended forever.

"Where do you think you're going, bitch?" She was far from my biggest problem, and frankly, I was getting a little tired of her.

"To class. You know, where you sit in a room with a bunch of other kids and a teacher?" Okay, maybe I was tired of her shit, but I couldn't help my snarkiness. It was my natural defense against stupid people.

She just stared at me blankly for a second, before obviously coming to the conclusion that I was, indeed, insulting her. She contorted her face (even more than it was already) into a sneer, and spat, "Go to hell."

Smiling innocently, I said in a sugary-sweet voice, "Oh, I'm already going there. Now I'm just trying to get a good spot."

I then swerved around her and her "posse", leaving her standing in the doorway. Idiots.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

The dreams were coming more and more often.

_They keep whispering. Ever since I decimated that army, They had been whispering. Whispers of me being the next Major. Whispers of fear, awe, and anger. I am getting sick of their whispers. With us being what we are, do they really think I can't hear them? Although sometimes They want me to overhear them. Those are the ones that are jealous, and a little scared, but cover it up with hate and anger. And it hasn't even been a full day. I know because the battle was in the morning, and it is nighttime now. The sun hasn't come back up. The sun setting and rising is basically the only way I can keep track of time now. The Others don't really care. All they care about is blood and sex._

_Apparently loki spilled the secret of my gift, because she had used it to render some of the other side's Newbies immobile while she dealt with the others. I'm just glad that She, Maria, hasn't confronted me about it yet. The Major knew, They suspected, but She hasn't found out yet. Otherwise she would "train" me with it. I don't know why the Major hasn't told her yet. I just know that I am grateful. The last Newbie that had a gift was separated for a while and came back with a lot more scars. Rumor was that he had been tortured and blood had been withheld from him until he showed Her the full extent of his power. Then his power was deemed useless, and he was culled extra early. The Major was the first Gifted Newbie, and he had apparently gone through more. I felt a little sad at that, but I didn't know why._

_I didn't really know much of the why when it came to the Major._

_Speak of the devil. He is now standing at the flap of our giant tent, the guards at his side. His face is hard and calculating, an expression seems to wear often. We make eye contact, and I narrow my eyes, refusing to look away first. We don't need to blink, so I don't know exactly what I will accomplish of this. Without breaking eye contact, he turns and speaks to the guard to his right, and the guard comes over and grabs my arm. I realize that the Major probably wants to talk about my…performance in the battle. A small curl of dread settles in the pit of my stomach, but I quickly quash that. He's an empath. I can't show him any weakness in my emotions. He and the guards are bringing me to his private tent. He instructs the guards to leave, and they back out of the tent, eyes on the ground. Subservient, fearful. I scoff in my head. If he wants me to act like that, he has another thing coming, because I won't. They are pathetic. He looks slightly disgusted as well, before smoothing his face into the cold mask again._

"_So, I hear that you did well in battle." His voice is also cold and emotionless. Detached._

_I nod, not really sure of what to do._

"_And your gift. You used it." I again nod, although it seems like he doesn't need conformation. He already knows, he's just stating the facts._

"_That's not very wise. If Maria finds out, you will come into harm." Into his voice leaks a little emotion. He clears his throat unnecessarily, not meeting my eyes. I am confused. Is that a chink in his armor I see? Concern I hear in his voice, just briefly? Why would he be concerned about me?_

"_I know. I didn't mean to." This does not seem like the right thing to say. He abruptly turns towards me and pins me against a tent pole._

"_You didn't __**mean**_ _to? You have put yourself on a path to pain and torture, and all you can say is that you didn't mean to?" He is snarling in my face, but I discover that even though his face is contorted in anger, there is worry deep in his eyes. I do not respond to him, instead focusing on that worry, concern, anguish buried in his eyes, dark with rage._

"_Why do you care?" I ask, genuinely curious, and he lets me go as if I have burned him. He has gone back to avoiding eye contact. I might be imagining it, but I hear what sounds like 'I don't know' mumbled under his breath. It sounds tortured, and I want to comfort him. He must have felt that with his gift, because he meets my eyes briefly, his face showing shock and confusion, before he schools it back into the mask he wears. He takes a deep, unnecessary breath, before looking into my eyes.._

"_Just be careful from now on, okay?" his voice isn't cold now, it's softer than I've ever heard it before, gruff with emotion. His eyes plead with me, and I nod. He swallows, and averts his eyes again, and when he looks back at me, his voice is back to cold and detached. "You may go now. The guards are on their way back to escort you back to your tent." He is looking at me, but his eyes are slightly unfocused, and it looks more like he is staring __**through**__me. I nod again, to myself, and quietly leave the tent. The space in the tent is limited, and I accidentally brushing against him as I leave. As I do, we both inhale sharply. I desperately want keep touching him, because when I do, I feel as if I am home again, safe. That feeling is something I haven't felt in a long time, even before I woke to this life. I couldn't remember much of my previous life, but I knew that I hadn't felt like that for a while. I squash those emotions and thoughts, continuing my path towards the tent flap. The hesitation was only a brief millisecond, but to our kind, that was enough._

_My fingers twitch as if to reach out to him. But I don't. I go back to the tent I share with the Others, back to my place, where I can see everyone around me, and I can observe them, observe the possible threats. But the memory of his touch lingers in my hands, and I hate it. But I can't bring myself to ever hate him._

The dream lingered in my mind, but another dream took its place. I'd never had two of these dreams in a row before. Usually it was just one and then I was back to my normal, dreamless sleep.

_I am in a battle again, this time the Major is here too. The army we face is bigger than ours. I am a little nervous, but I know what I have to do. It worked before, it can work again. I tell loki that her name and Loki's are too alike. She smirks and asks me what I want to call her. I think for a second, before a name pops into my head, much like it did before.__Skydd, or 'protection'seems appropriate. She thinks for a second, before purring in agreement. Skydd does have a certain ring about it._

_I don't know why I chose the Swedish word for protection. Is she protecting me? Or others from Loki? Because I know letting Loki be free would be a bad idea…_

_Shaking off those thoughts, I let Skydd begin growing to fill my body, but making her go slowly so that I could keep a larger space for myself, to make sure that she didn't use my gift again. She was more instinctual, so of course she would want to use my gift. But I had promised the Major…_

_I couldn't keep from glancing at him. He seemed to be doing much the same thing that I was. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and when he opens them, they are a solid black, and he pulls his lips back, baring his teeth and snarls softly. His entire body is straining forward, and he looks like a an attack dog on a taut rope, and it wasn't going to hold up much longer. For some reason that set off a wave of anticipation in me, and Skydd stretched, swinging her tail back and forth slowly. I took a deep unnecessary breath, and faced the oncoming rush of Newbies, a sadistic smile on my face._

_With Skydd controlling most of my body, I am free to sit back and watch, to think. I briefly think that I should be terrified, horrified. But I'm not. I feel nothing but a cruel sense of pleasure and our version of an adrenaline rush. I realize that the Others are in their one on one matches, some two on one. I am currently beheading an enemy Newbie while four more are trying to attack me. I realize that the Others are instinctually giving me a wide birth. I realize that they are being wise, because if they came too close to me, enemy or not, I would destroy them. I realize that this doesn't bother me at all. I realize that the Major is at my back, destroying those that try to ambush me from behind. Now why would he…be helping me? Would it have something to do with that odd worry back in the tent? I paused in my tearing apart of the Newbie in front of me, for just a fraction of a millisecond. Skydd hissed at me._

_No…he probably didn't mean to. He's most likely just helping me because he is a force to be reckoned with, and we are both at the front of the charging Newbies. He's most likely defending my gift. For Her. Maria. For some reason, I felt a deep feeling of sorrow and disappointment. I took a deep breath, pushed those feeling aside, and continued ripping the Newbie apart._

**AN/: Yeah, I figured that loki and Loki were too easily confused…sorry if Skydd seems too weird. Also sorry if you know Swedish and I utterly butchered that. I used Google translate, but I know that it can get all weird…so, yeah.**


	20. Dead as a Doornail

**Chapter 20: Dead as a Doornail**

**Jasper POV**

_My life, one big mess of violence, bloodshed, and fear, seemed duller by the second. The emotions were definitely taking their toll on me. All the pain, horror, fear, despair. No matter how invincible I may seem, even I have my breaking point. And I was getting painfully close to that line drawn in the sand._

_It was much easier to let the Major take control. I used to only let him out during battles, but lately I had been almost constantly in Major mode. The truth was, he was the only reason that I hadn't just lost on purpose, and ended my life. He did quite well in this environment. I, however, do not._

_But then I saw her. I knew instantly that she was mine, my mate, after all these years. But I just can't bring myself to admit it out loud, to myself, or to her. The only person I have ever been close to in this life was Peter. And he left. I always did hold a grudge, no matter how hard I tried to stop, to understand his reasoning. Now I do understand, because I understand why he felt so strongly about Charlotte. Having a mate is something one can't understand until they've experienced it for themselves. I knew the power of the feelings, having experienced it second hand, but I had never felt them myself._

_She was amazing on the battlefield, she had a great set of instincts. She was more in control than the other Newbies, but she, too, had another side. And the Major definitely approved._

_It's hard to keep the God of War behind the wall I've built to reign him in, even the Major has been having trouble. But no matter how much all three of us want nothing more than to throw her down and claim her in front of everybody, so that they all know not to touch her, we can't. Maria disapproves of mates in her army, and she would try her best to kill her if she found out. And while I have no doubt that I would stop her, the timing is not right yet. She knows and I know that she's only the first in command because of me, because I let her be. Most Newbies can only be controlled by fear, and they only fear her because they fear me, and they see that I consider her to be my commander, although that is far from the truth._

_If Peter ran, he must have been running towards something, not just away. He is smarter than that. He'd told me that it was different up North, none of this. Now that I had found my mate, I was considering the possibility. I had dismissed it immediately in the past, because hope was a luxury I could not afford, but now, now I actually considering it. He had a gift of just knowing shit, and he had never steered me wrong before. I have begun to plan for an escape, for both me and my mate._

_Although first I would have to fully accept it. And learn her name. That is definitely important. I can't just keep on referring to her by a title I won't even admit is hers. Even though I knew it, I just wouldn't admit it to myself. By some degree, I was raised by Maria, and her views on mating as a weakness had sunk in, no matter how hard I tried to make myself unlike her._

_So I had tried to keep my defenses up, be the Major even though it was hard to keep up around her, what with both me and the God of War trying to reveal ourselves to our mate instinctively. Until the latest battle, the one that she had been in. I was busy taking care of another group of the enemy, but I had been distracted, worrying for her safety. I knew she could take care of herself, but I couldn't help it._

_I had been relieved, and even a little proud when I heard of how well she did, but then I realized that now that the Others had witnessed her gift, someone would leak it to Maria. And then Maria would do what she had done to me in an effort to make her be able to "control her gift". I had never quite recovered from what she had put me through, and I definitely didn't want my mate to suffer that. So, in an emotion-fueled decision, something I hadn't made since I let Peter and his mate go, I had asked her to be more careful, to be safe. And I had shown myself to her, if only in fits and bursts, in the gaps between the Major._

_So that brings me to now, me surrounded by the keening sound of Newbies being ripped apart, many by my hands, while I am protecting her. My renewed reason for existence. My hope._

_The Major agrees with me, yet is a little pissed that I am sounding so mushy. He is right. I am sounding mushy. And angsty, and pussy-ish._

_I am, as always, distracted by her, but this time, it makes me make a fatal mistake. I didn't notice fresh wave of enemy Newbies running towards us. I quickly calculate the odds, and I realize that we have sustained many casualties. Thanks to Maria's ever changing whim, the Newbies weren't ready, and they fell like flies. I grit my teeth and snarl. This is certainly annoying._

_Using my gift, I knock out all the Newbies within a two-mile radius, save my mate. I don't have time to dispose of them right now, but I throw as many in the fire as I can before those that were farther away reach us. I can tell which ones were within five miles, because they are really affected, though not enough to make them unconscious, or rather, unresponding._

_My mate, in about the same state I am, lets out a feral sound, before a giant bubble of pulsating energy expands rapidly, throwing several of the enemy into the trees. It stops at the edge of the clearing, and I am in awe of her ability._

_Since I have been in this existence for longer, the Major and I are more meshed together. I am still in control, but in a different mindset, and well, different overall. I can have this inner monologue running through my head, yet the Major is busy tossing limp bodies into the now roaring fire. The purple smoke is a warning to other vampires not to come near. The enemy is hesitant, stopping about a foot away from my mate's shield, if it can be called that. One reaches out and touches it and my mate growls as the bubble thickens. I growl with her, and stay tensed and ready to fight. I feel my mate ghosting slowly closer, and I feel a small hand on my back. I calm ever so slightly, but still eye the enemy warily. Especially the Newbie that angered my mate._

_The hand on my back disappears, but three fingers touch my arm discreetly. One disappears, then another. By the time the last one is retracted, I am already darting forward towards front line of these enemy Newbies. A red haze tints my vision, and the God of War is breaking down the wall. My mate at my side, we decimate the enemy, the one that touched my mate's shield is thrown into the fire first. The Newbies lucky enough to be at the back are turning against their commanders' orders, fleeing from certain death on instinct. A large pulsating wall stops them and by the time they find the edge, it is too late._

_I stand surrounded by spilled venom and torn limbs, and take a deep, still ready for any oncoming attack. I know that there isn't one, the enemy is all dead. Still, I am in a protective stance, shielding my mate from the nonexistent threat. I try to keep the God of War behind his wall, but it is a difficult task._

_A soothing purr sounds next to my ear, slightly breathy and seductive, and so feminine and right that I know it belongs to my perfect match. My mate's tongue makes an appearance at the base of my neck, and I close my eyes as my body relaxes, and try not to shudder. The urge to mate with her and mark her is strong, but ironically the only thing keeping me back is her. Not wanting any harm to come to her is a strong instinct too._

_I know what she is doing. She is making sure I am relatively unharmed. I turn and check her over visually for open wounds, finding a few healing bite marks and scratches, but nothing too horrible. I still feel anger and thirst for revenge build up in my system, before I squash it. They are already dead. Twice dead, in fact. It's not like I can kill them again._

_I run my hands over her body, just to make sure there aren't any injuries I missed. She is good. That much is true. She didn't let anybody get to her for long, if at all._

_I find an open bite mark on her wrist, and I coat it with my venom to heal it. She hisses slightly, but it quickly turns into purring. I feel rather than hear her purr, and the answering one rising in my chest. I don't know where the few survivors on our side are, but they're nowhere near here. That's good, because this is definitely mate behavior. I am still fighting the urge to claim her right there, but it's not as powerful as the urge to just whisk her away where she will never be hurt again. That plan to find a way out has to be put in motion soon, or I might just explode, especially if this kind of threat is ever put on her life again._

_Looking into her eyes, still physically moving almost purely on instinct, I make her a promise. __**I will protect you.**_

I woke up with a start. Was this what Izzy and Rose were talking about? Those weird dreams? But why would they start all of a sudden in me? And what was with that dream, anyway? I had to admit Izzy intruding in my dreams was not uncommon, but this seemed really out of the ordinary. With a groan, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Too weird.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

**Izzy POV**

_He looks into my eyes, and everything feels right. Even after what had happened, even through all the confusion I have, I feel safe._

Whoa. That dream probably ranked up there with the top ten weirdest of all time. And that's counting the first one. My mind buzzing with unanswered questions and general confusion, I get up to get a glass of water. I make my way upstairs but stop when I hear the sink running. Alert now, I reach slowly for the knife I have inside a nearby curtain, and inch towards the kitchen. When I see that it's just Jasper, standing there in a t-shirt and his boxers, I sigh and slip the knife inside the waistband of my sleep shorts. Without looking back, he starts speaking.

"You know those dreams you say you've been having? Way creepier in person."

I lean up against a wall and think about that. What, so the dreams just randomly decided to go to him too tonight? Like, 'Oh, I feel like a change. How about we go infiltrate the brain of that blonde guy there? Seems like fun!'?

"Yeah, it was something about battling these superhuman 'Newbies', and you were there, and we had some sort of weird mutant powers or something. I think I'm going insane."

"I don't. Well, I thought I was going insane too, but…then again if I was right, then I wouldn't think you were going insane, would I? Anyway, I had the same dream, I think. But the weird thing was that we…purred, or something at each other…and I think I licked you." He turned around and gave me a weird look. Okay, maybe I disclosed a little too much information there, and he had a completely different dream, and now thinks I'm a creeper.

"Yeah. That _was_ weird. I didn't really get that." Whew. Crisis averted.

"Hey, maybe we should find out if Rose's dreams are about licking random people. Maybe that would shed some light."

"Hm. That's a good idea. Well now we know what we're gonna do tomorrow." He just leaned against the sink, sipping water. Which reminded me of the reason I got up. I walked over, reaching over him to get to the cups from the cabinet, and got myself a cup of H2O. I felt a hand on my ass, and whirled around. Jasper was standing there, a sheepish grin on his face. I fought the urge to laugh at his expression at being caught. I decided to toy with him a little.

"Well, well, well. Jasper. It seems as though you're a naughty boy," I said in my most seductive voice, trailing a finger down his chest. His hooded eyes followed it as it made a slow, torturous descent down his abs and hooked onto the elastic waistband of his boxers. His breathing was heavy, and I pulled the elastic towards me, before letting it go so that it snapped back in place. Unable to hold back the giggles, I stood on my tip-toes to peck him on the lips, and took a step back.

"It looks like you have a not-so-little problem there, cowboy." I gave him a wink, still giggling slightly, and took my water back to my room. On the way, I could only think about why Jasper had started sharing these weird dreams all of a sudden.

I was about to open the door to my room when all of a sudden I started feeling really dizzy. I heard Jasper come down the stairs, just as my vision started getting all fuzzy.

"Jasper…I feel…really weird…" was all I managed to call out before black spots started dancing in my eyes, and I passed out.

_This dream was different. I was an onlooker, not an actual person, or thing, in it. I was in a run-down room, the plaster peeling off of the walls, the fake wood flooring shabby at best. There was no furniture, nothing in the room except a man, lying on the floor, with empty bottles of liquor surrounding him. I stepped closer, I gasped in shock. It was Jasper. And not Major Jasper, either, just Jasper. But he did look a bit older, maybe twenty-eight. It looked like he was passed out, with his cell phone held against his heart. In his other hand was a newspaper. From the look of it, a few days old. I stepped carefully around… Jasper to get a closer look. What? The main story was of a murder…my murder. It said that I had been shot as I was leaving a book store, when I tried to protect the owner from getting robbed. I could have made it, but since it was a small book store, in an area with close to no foot traffic, I bled out before the police could be notified. Well then. Apparently I'm going to be dead in this dream._

_I heard a soft whooshing sound and then a gasp, that sounded remarkably like mine. Looking around the room, I saw something that should have completely freaked me out. It was me. Well, a slightly-older looking me, more mature and with shorter hair. Also, she was all pale and transparent, with a bullet hole in her side. That too. She-I mean me-I mean-you know what, I'm just gonna call her ghost-me. Ghost me made her way over to the unconscious Jasper, and knelt down by his head. She laid a hand on his cheek, and I swear I heard a sob._

"_I'm so sorry." I was pretty certain that Jasper couldn't hear Ghost-me, but a small smile played across his face, before he snuggled closer to her._

"_Not your fault," he mumbled in his sleep. Ghost-me smiled, and caressed his face one last time before whispering goodbye and disappearing._

_Jasper woke with a start. He gasped for breath like a drowning man just pulled out of water. He looked a mess. His hair was more tousled than usual, his eyes were bloodshot, and his clothes looked like he had been wearing them for days. I hated seeing him like that. He rubbed his eyes and looked around him, before putting his head in his hands with a groan. He flopped back down, and stared up at the ceiling. I was just about to go and comfort him, when all of a sudden the door burst open. _

_A man that looked like he could be Jasper's brother, just a bit shorter and stockier with shorter hair and slightly different features rushed in. _

"_Jasper?" He almost seemed hesitant while approaching, like he was afraid to startle him. He stepped into the early morning light shining through the one grubby window. His skin lit up like a crystal, the sun bouncing off of it and highlighting his scars._

"_It hurts, Peter." Jasper's voice, hoarse and utterly broken sounding did some severe damage on my heart._

"_What does? Did you manage to hurt yourself? Should I take you to the hospital?" Jasper lifted a hand and signaled that he was fine._

"_Not that," he croaked. He gestured towards the fallen newspaper, and scrubbed at his face._

"_Oh. Jasper…" Peter seemed at a loss for words._

"_Don't."_

"_But you know she wouldn't have wanted you to-" Peter was then cut off by an increasingly irritated Jasper._

"_I KNOW! I KNOW THAT PETER! I just…I can't do this without her." Peter looked at his feet, away from Jasper, who was now pacing the room, looking like he was going to tear his hair out if he pulled any harder. The scene started flickering, before the warmth was peeled away like a filter._

_Jasper too shone in the light, his scars more numerous than Peter's. The newspaper was gone, the liquor bottles were gone, and in their place was a giant fire, but I knew I was still dead. That was probably my dream showing me that information. But then how had I really died?_

"_I know, okay Jasper? I know that too." This only seemed to set him off further._

"_Did you? Did you really? Because I don't think so. You know, in the end, it doesn't really matter, does it? Everyone ends up alone, in the end. And you know what? If you're my brother, where were you? HUH? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I-WHEN SHE-when everything fell apart? Where were you when I just needed a call? You weren't there. You didn't have to watch her-why did you have to wait?" His voice broke, something I didn't know could happen to his kind._

"_I wasn't there. And I know that. I really do. I found you too late. I-"_

"_Damn right you did. And I know that you couldn't help it, I know it isn't your fault, it's just-why, Peter? Why? She was the only one who knew me. Well not the only one to know me, but the only one who really…you know what I mean, right? I just…losing her. Back there…I didn't know how long she'd be next to me, but I thought it was forever, heaven on earth, just because I was with her, and…I just… I can't do this anymore, Peter." He sounded so…lost…so hopeless._

"_I might not know, Jasper, but I get it. Just to think…without Charlotte I…but you know she would've wanted you to keep on going, to be happy." Peter was trying his best to help, but Jasper was too far gone. I could truly see that he was just a little late._

"_I know, Peter. Brothers, right? Just…I need to be on my own. Please. Tell Charlotte that even though I don't know her that well, she's like my sister. She's good for you. But…as your brother, I'm begging you. Please. Go." Jasper was hanging onto his sanity by a thread, and I could tell Peter could see it too._

"_All right. Just…we love you, okay man? Me and Charlotte both. You'll always be family, okay?" Jasper looked Peter in the eye for moment, and nodded. Peter reluctantly headed out the door, leaving Jasper standing in the middle of the room._

_Jasper stared at the wall. Actually it was more like he was staring through the wall, to something far, far in the distance. His expression was haunted and tortured, as if reliving the worst moments of his life over and over again._

"_I failed you. I'm so sorry." It was barely a whisper._

_He folded in on himself, and ended up sitting on the floor with his head resting on his knees, his hands fisted in his hair, and shaking. He yelled out in agony, and released his emotions with a powerful burst. I hoped that he was as far away from civilization as it seemed, because his feelings…were just so strong. They passed right through me, as I wasn't really there, but all the same, the room was filled in a haze as I tried to deal with them. I didn't know how he could stand it._

_And then his words made a little more sense to me. He had said he couldn't do this anymore. Through the haze I saw him get up, close his eyes and walk calmly towards the fire._

_No._

_He stopped just in front of it, the flames reaching towards him, surrounding him, as if to embrace him into the warm arms of death._

_You can still turn back._

_With one long, shivering breath, he stepped forward into the fire. "I'm coming, Isabella."_

_No. Please. I can't take this anymore. Please don't make me see it. I collapsed on the floor, sobbing openly for the first time in a long time._

_Mercifully, the dream cut to black. One last glimpse of purple smoke, and I woke up._

"Izzy. Izzy, come on. Wake up. Come on. Come back to me, Izzy. Look, I'm sorry about feeling you up. Don't be mad. Come back to me." Jasper? But Jasper…Jasper was gone.

"Gone? What? No. I'm here. I'm here Izzy, come back to me." I said that out loud? No, I saw him…into the fire…right? I was slowly coming to, I could feel warm hands on my face…and carpet under me. Dirty blonde hair. And those eyes. Jasper's eyes. Jasper. Jasper's here. He's alright. It was a dream, in the past.

"Jasper. Oh, god, you're alright. You're alright." I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. My vision cleared, and I immediately recognized the surroundings. Basement, right in front of my room. Jasper's concerned face loomed in my vision, eyebrows knit, forehead drawn, and everything.

Seeing my eyes open, he visibly relaxed. Pulling me into a hug, he stroked my hair softly. "I thought something really bad had happened to you. Don't do that to me again." I nodded.

"Jasper it was…just like it was one of those dreams…too real. You…fire…Fuck, I'm so happy you're not dead."

"Wait, what? I was dead?"

"As a doornail. Although I've never gotten that. Why a doornail?" My brain was leaping from topic to topic, and I was slightly giddy from finding a very alive Jasper.

"Please…explain why I was dead?" Jasper sounded very confused and uncertain, and he had the most adorable quizzical look on his face, I giggled slightly, before nodding. I then began to explain the horrible dream-thing.


	21. Sleep

**Chapter 21: Sleep.**

After the shock and slight hysteria had worn off a bit, I was able to calm down, and think it over. Like all the times before, it answered only a few questions while spawning dozens more. I was getting a little annoyed. I liked to have all the information.

I was certain that, in those dreams, we were definitely not human. The whole walking-into-fire-to-commit-suicide thing definitely confirmed that. But if we weren't human, what were we? And, the granddaddy question of them all, why are we having these dreams?

Oh well, no use pondering over things I can't control. Although that was a scary concept, if I was honest with myself.

"So…where's everybody?"

"Eh, you know, around. Probably sleeping. It is the middle of the night, after all."

"Oh…right. Yeah." I was only just slightly still shaken. But apparently just enough to set me back a little. I felt like I should say something more, but I couldn't think of what, exactly. "I'm glad you're not dead, Jasper." Okay, so not the greatest thing to say, but I looked into his eyes and I knew that I got the message through. He understood what I had meant to say.

He smiled warmly, and we just kept on looking into each other's eyes. We were still on the floor, although I was sitting now, and he was too, his back leaning against the wall. It was a movie magic moment, charged with something.

It was a little too intense for real life. "Well, we…better get back to sleep then. School, tomorrow, and everything."

"Oh, um, yeah. Yeah, of course, we really should. Sleep. Yeah." I had to laugh just a little bit at Jasper stumbling over his words a bit. He was just normally so collected. He grinned and chuckled a bit.

And we went to sleep. Thankfully, the rest of the night passed in a dreamless sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

In the morning, I was making myself a bowl of cereal and fully dressed, talking to Jasper, when Rose came in the kitchen. She was the last one up, and everybody was already here, lounging about the area. Even though not everybody slept at my house every night, we all met up here in the mornings, before school.

"Hey, everyone. Isn't it a great morning?" Rose was not a morning person, so her unusually cheery demeanor caused me to raise an eyebrow. She put on a completely innocent expression in response to my silent question, but I didn't miss the secret smile she and Emmett shared. "What?"

Letting it go, but deciding to question her later, Alice and I shared a glance. "Oh, nothing." Rose gave us a blinding smile and went to go get her breakfast.

Other than Rose's unusually bright attitude, the morning went by pretty mundanely. Edward and Alice played mental chess the whole time, their new hobby. Edward would decide where to move and Alice would see into the future to find out his move. Alice would then think her next move, and Edward would read it in her thoughts. There was never any need for an actual board or pieces. It was all played out in their minds.

Which sounds really cool, but doesn't, really, when you're watching them. If you're not them, you're just watching a guy and a girl squinting, glaring playfully, and closing their eyes periodically, at each other. Not so exciting when you're not in their heads.

Talking about their gifts, Edward was actually a decent fighter with his gift. Us training him before he got his gift made it so that he wasn't exactly _dependent_ on it, he could defend himself pretty well. Well enough to hold off a good opponent until someone could help him, that is. But with his gift, he could read what you were going to do before you did it, and that helped him slip past you like water. And then, even though he still didn't like hurting people, he could knock you out with this move I taught him that knocks out any size opponent with little to no effort on your part. Pretty awesome.

Of course, watching Edward and Alice fight was interesting. They never actually…made contact, because of the whole mind reading, future seeing thing.

Which brings me to Alice. Alice was getting pretty good. In fact, she was close to tied with Rose. Of course, her gift helped, but I was a little worried about that. With all the chaos that was pretty much inevitable, would it distract her more than help her? Damn, I hoped not.

All in all, they were making progress. Even Emmett. I just had to tell Rose to give him the advice, and boom. It got right through his thick skull. It was like magic.

Alice and I waited until after school to pounce on Rose. The guys had all gone out together for some guy time, or something like that.

"So…Rose, anything…interesting happen lately?" Alice said, putting on her own innocent face.

"Say, sometime between last night when we went to bed, and this morning?" I chimed in. "Could it have something to do with…a certain grizzly bear friend of ours?"

"Well…I kissed Emmett." This set Alice off into a flurry of squeals.

"What? Tell us all the details. What happened?"

"Okay, so Emmett and I were sitting in my room, and we were talking about nothing, in our own little bubble. Then he was all silent, and then he told me that he really liked me, and would I go out with him. So I was just, really happy, right? And I was jumping up and down squealing inside, but I forgot to tell him yes, so he started getting a little nervous, and began blabbering about it being okay if I said no. Then, I just…laid one on him. And then I told him that of course I was going to go out with him. And we kissed again. But the weird thing is, that time, well, we were kind of making out, but I got these weird images flashing through my mind, and we broke apart, and he says, whoa. And he tells me he got them too, but then we got a little sidetracked, and, well…we started making out again. We're going out this Friday!" She fell back with a dreamy sigh, then giggled softly to herself.

"Rose! He finally asked you out! OMG! You've got to let me help you get ready! Bella will help me! This is going to be amazing! Can I come to your wedding?" Alice then started going on and on about their romance. Rose and I just watched her in amazement. She went on for a good ten minutes before she finally stopped, sighing in contentment.

I smiled.

"So…I have this question that I just gotta ask you, Rose." We were all three lying on my bed, just kind of looking at the ceiling.

"Okay, shoot."

"Well, you know those dreams? What are yours about?"

There was a brief silence before she responded. "It's kind of weird." I could tell she was a little hesitant about telling me. She sounded a little vulnerable, so I decided to put her at ease.

"I know, mine are too. Hey, want me to go first?"

"Please?"

"Okay, well…" And I went on to explain them as well as possible.

"Wait, so let me get this straight, you guys…licked each other?"

"Yeah. I know, right? It sounds so gross…"

"I don't know, it sounds…a little hot. Oooh, yeah." Of course Alice would say that.

"Okay, now, Rose it's your turn," I said, sitting up.

"Well, fine. There wasn't any…licking in my dream. But…"

**Rose POV**

I decided to describe my dreams in the order that I had them, and try to make sense of them with my best friends after.

My dreams started off badly.

_It's dark. I'm wearing some kind of old dress, the kind you see in museums from the 1915s, except it looks brand new. I'm walking in a dark alley. Why am I walking in a dark alley? Something about…going to visit an old friend who was married and had a new baby. I had a faint recollection of her husband offering to walk me home, make sure I'm safe. But I declined it for some reason. I should've called my father to escort me home. But it's such a short way home. I'll be fine._

_As I felt the cold sinister wind and heard lots of heavy footsteps behind me as I passed a dirty little hovel full of drunkards with alcohol, I wished that I had accepted. From the sounds of the steps, more drunkards were joining in. And they were getting closer, too._

_I drew my shawl tighter around my shoulders as their disgusting jeers drew closer. I sped up, casting a wary glance behind me, relieved to find that they had dispersed. Not looking where I was going, I almost ran into the figure before me._

_I drew short with a gasp. I hesitantly looked upwards at this man's face. I let out a sigh._

"_Royce! Oh, you scared me for a second there. What are you doing out at this hour?" I laid a hand over my pounding heart, feeling myself calm down. How did I know this man, and why did I have a heavy old New York accent? Royce. Oh yes, of course. Royce King II was the son of the rich banker that owned the bank at which my father worked, and my fiancé. My father had encouraged his courtship, as Royce was quite taken by my looks, and was quite wealthy. My parents had always been social climbers._

_Due to being raised by them, I dreamed of a lavish life-a life with a rich husband, and children as beautiful as I am. All I wanted was a big_ _house that someone else would clean, with a large lawn that I would play with my children on. Of course, my parents raised me to have a want of material things, as my beauty was their ticket to their social aspirations. But it made me vain and conceited. Even I knew that I could act that way most times, but I couldn't help it._

_All of a sudden a deep fairytale narrator's voice drifted into my head._

'_The rich banker's son, Royce II, saw Rosalie for the first time and began dating her soon therafter. It was a quick courtship and the couple was soon engaged. The engagement went too quickly and wedding plans were made._

Rosalie couldn't help but feel something was missing from her relationship with him, despite the fact that Royce was everything she'd dreamt of. She soon began wanting what her good friend Vera had-a husband who wasn't necessarily rich, but one that loved her and was there for her, and a small baby they could raise together lovingly.

One night she went to Vera's, and while walking home she realized how late it was and she wished that she had called her father to escort her but realized it was silly since the way was so short. As she continued, she saw several drunken men. One of them turned out to be Royce. Showing her off to his friends, he ripped off her jacket and the pins from her hair. When she cried out in pain, the men seemed to enjoy it. They proceeded to beat and later rape her.'

_Oh crap. I knew I felt that something was still wrong. Some of the drunkards from just earlier were surrounding him, and was that a bottle of liquor in his hand? Was he…drunk? Oh no!_

"_Oh-ho-ho! Look here, fellas. This is my…fiancée, isn't she lovely, boys?" He was drunk! And there was a nasty glimmer in his eyes that made me uneasy. My heart started pounding in my chest again._

"_But how can we tell, when she's all covered up like that?" one of the drunkards by his side slurred. A dozen red flags went up in my mind, as the men in front of me descended into drunken guffawing._

"_I-I really must be going, pardon me, gentlemen." I nervously tried to make my way past them, but they closed ranks around me. I could smell their stale breath, heavily laden with ale. Royce reached out and grabbed me before I could back away, his forearm like an iron bar across the back of my waist. He drew me far too close to him, and I shuddered in disgust. His breath fanned across my face, making my nose wrinkle as I desperately tried to break out of his grasp. "Let go of me! Let go of me, Royce!"_

"_Aw, now, don't be that way, Rosalie. We just want to take a little peek, don't we boys?" Memories of the man who had claimed to be my father and what he did to me all came rushing back, and I shrieked in despair. "Hush up now, Rosalie. Don't be the little bitch that you usually are. Good think you're so pretty, or nobody would ever want you. Besides, we can think of much better things to do with that pretty little mouth of yours than screaming, can't we, fellas?" And with that, he ripped the hair pins out of my hair, the jacket off of me, and laughed at my pain. With one last scream of pure dread from me, I called out to anybody who might save me from this._

_Oh, God, if you exist, please don't make me witness it, experience this again! I know what happened, please just let this skip ahead, whatever it is!_

_Mercifully, the scene faded to black before that narrator's voice drifted in again._

'_Royce and his friends left her dying on the streets. Carlisle Cullen came to investigate the grisly scene, found her half-dead and tried to save her humanly. Rosalie had never liked Dr. Cullen or his wife, Esme and her brother, Edward, as he then pretended to be. It had bothered her that the family was more beautiful than she was. Dr. Cullen, who turned out to be a vampire, saved Rosalie that night by turning her into a vampire after he realized she could not survive her wounds as a human. Despite the fact he and his family are vampires, they only fed on the blood of animals, calling themselves "vegetarians". Soon after becoming a vampire, she killed Royce and his friends in vengeance but was careful not to spill a drop of blood, knowing she couldn't resist that. For this particular reason, Rosalie prides herself on never having fed on human blood._

_But our story starts again two years later, although it is a story for another night. Stay tuned for the next installment.'_

"And then I woke up."

"Oh, Rose, that's horrible! No wonder you were so shaken up that morning!" Izzy and Alice hugged me, and I took a moment to recuperate in their comforting arms, before continuing with last night's dream.

"Well, I'm fine, and here's why. The other dreams I had in between weren't really important, I just got the general impression that I was unhappy, and what I was. I 'm almost certain that, in the dreams or whatever they are, I was the same thing that Izzy was in her dreams, although hers are way more intense. I'm pretty sure that that thing is…well…"

_I never wanted this life. I was doomed, no chance of bearing a child, ever. And look at me, I'm hunting for blood! What a monster! Sure, I follow the animal diet, but what makes animals so beneath humans, anyway? I'm probably messing up the ecosystem, too. I really am such a monster!_

_The spiteful bitch in my head snapped at me for sounding too angsty and mopey, like Edward. Ugh. I just can't stand that boy. He needed to grow up, and get over it. We're all stuck like this, not just you, golden boy. And he just couldn't stay out of my head! Sure, I know I'm vain and stuck up, but he doesn't get to judge me for it!_

_I sighed, kicking a last bit of dirt over the animal carcass. I was just about to head back, when I heard some male shouts of pain. I grew concerned, knowing that there was a recent overpopulation of bears in this area. My suspicions were confirmed by the snarling of a female grizzly. I ran full speed towards the sounds, without a second thought, only being a little curious to the strangest pull I felt tugging me along gently._

_I came into a small clearing, and gasped in horror. A man was being mauled by a bear! It was very gruesome, and I felt that thirst come back full force. But I also felt the strange pull tying me to the man. I wouldn't be much help to the man if I was going to scare off the bear, only to drink from him, so I immediately stopped breathing. While I didn't have to breathe, I didn't like not being able to._

_I rushed out in front of the bear, and hissed at the bear, baring my teeth. It paused in the mauling, before backing off, roaring, then ambling off back into the woods. I saw the shotgun next to the injured man, and I figured he had been hunting or something. Remembering the reports of bear killings in a town not too far from here, he had probably tried to kill the bear, but had ended up in the process of becoming it's next victim._

_I then got a good look at his face, and I gasped. I could tell he was near passed out from pain, yet he was staring at me with adoration in his face. And he looked so much like Vera's son, Henry, the reason I was out in the streets in the first place. That pull to him tugged at my waist even stronger, and I drew closer to him, almost unwillingly._

_The thirst was roaring in my throat, as I had begun breathing again, subconsciously. I immediately halted my breath again, but it was too late. I had smelled that delicious elixir, and I was torn between finishing him off, or getting him some help._

_This had only taken a second so far, due to me being the creature that I am, but the man was still staring at me adoringly._

"_An…ang-angel!" he breathed, forcing the words out of his throat. This caused my eyes to widen. He thought I was an angel? I had to fight back sobs. _

_My decision was made. I had to get him back to Carlisle. His wounds were too severe, even if I went for help, he would die. And I couldn't let him die. Besides, he had seen me, and once he came to his senses, he would know I wasn't an angel, and he would either be sentenced to death or become what I was anyways._

_I concentrated on not breathing as I bent down and gently picked him up. I could see the shock in his eyes, as he was a pretty solidly built man. He was very handsome, and he was half mauled. I couldn't imagine how handsome he would be as…_

_No, I have to concentrate on getting him to Carlisle! I was already halfway to the house, and I finally understood what Carlisle must've felt when he found me._

_If Carlisle would turn him, as I was still too young to be able to, then I could find it in my heart to forgive him. I finally knew why he did what he did to me. While I still wasn't happy about it, I could accept that he had acted as he saw was the only solution._

"_Rosalie, what is this?" Carlisle's voice came from up in his study, as I neared the house. He probably got a whiff of the fresh human blood. Esme was out hunting, in the other direction, so I wouldn't have to worry about her, Edward was too angsty to try to kill this wounded man in my arms. Besides, he was with Esme._

_I heard the slight disturbance in the air of Carlisle's descent as I ran through the doorway._

"_Please, Carlisle! I found this man, a bear was attacking him, and he's going to die, Carlisle. He's going to die if you don't…please! I know that I'm against turning, but please! Something about him…he's special, and I can't do it, or he'll die!" I was practically begging him, but I couldn't find it in me to care. I just needed this man to be saved._

_A lesser man would've thrown this situation in my face and refused, especially after all my snarky comments about the situation of my turning, but Carlisle just looked at me, looked at the man, took in his fatal injuries and nodded in determination._

_I hovered near the man all during his change, as I felt the need to be by his side, protect him. When Esme tried to come near him the room while he was in this vulnerable state, I had growled and snarled more viciously than I ever had before. I didn't know why…although Carlisle and Edward shared a few glances, making me believe that they certainly thought they knew. I didn't make them tell me, as I was too distraught over the man's screams and shouts as the fire burned through him._

_Carlise and Edward were allowed in the room, although Edward with high reluctance. I heard Carlise explain to Esme that it wasn't something against her personally, but then the man had cried out in pure agony, and my concentration had been returned to him, so I didn't hear the rest of his explanation of his theory._

_After three days, almost exactly, the cries stopped. He was silent. Something inside me gave, and I sighed in relief. At the sound of my sigh, his eyes opened, locking onto mine. In that moment, the pull I had felt to him strengthened into a solid bond. And then as he was in front of me in a flash, pulling me to him and kissing me, I didn't care that I was broken. There were no horrible flashbacks. This was not Royce. This was something completely different, and even though I didn't know his name, I loved him. The bond strengthened even more as we kissed passionately, into something stronger than steel._

_All of a sudden his back was to me, and I was in the farthest corner of the room, away from the door. Carlisle had come in to check on this man, Edward and Esme slightly behind him. The man was in front of me, snarling at the highest volume, his stance protective of me, except for his hand that was grasping mine, as if to be sure I was still there. I felt the same surge of protectiveness and possessiveness seeing Esme near him, even though she was mated to Carlisle, something that was special._

_Then the whole world froze for a second, as I stared wide eyed at the back of his head._

_Mates. He was my mate. I knew it with the same certainty that I knew anything. I didn't have time to figure out how I felt about it, as I was suddenly being pulled along with him as we burst through the window next to us, and we were running._

_We ended up in a cave, me just standing there as he gathered a bunch of brush and grass and surrounded me with it. I remembered that Carlisle had once explained to me and Edward that right after a mated pair met, especially if one of them was new to this life and was controlled strongly by instinct, they would run as far as possible from other people and vampires, and the male would make a nest of some sort so that they could officially cement their bond. Make sure that each other were in perfect condition, so that they both could feel safe. And if anybody were to wander close to the nest, they would see them as a potential threat to their bond and kill them instantly._

_So he really was my mate. I didn't know how I felt about that before, but now I knew that there was no way I could feel sad about that._

_He was amazing. I didn't even know his name, but I knew that much. And I loved him. It was love at first sight, and there was no turning back now, even if I wanted to. The hole in my heart that Royce had left when he did what he did to me slowly started knitting together._

_For the next five days, we cemented our bond. After the initial instincts faded just enough for both of us to be in our right minds, I found out his name was Emmett. He asked me why I was so sad, and he looked genuinely concerned. I broke down, sobbing as I told him my story, and his face grew almost terrifyingly dark. He would've tracked Royce and all those disgusting creatures down and killed them slowly and painfully, if I hadn't gotten to them first._

_He healed me, he really did. He went out and got me a deer, as I had explained to him what we were, and told him about my diet. He told me that if I followed this diet, he would too. I found out his story, why he had gone after the bear, and comforted him as best I could as he accepted what he now was._

_After we could feel each other's contentment and love through our bond, feel the true well-being, I told him that we were mates, and what that meant. He told me that he felt the bond too, and that it might be soon, but he had loved me from the very moment he set his eyes on me. We kissed, and then we made love._

_I didn't actually…see it, experience it, whatever, but I knew that was what had happened. I had kind of…went out of my body and it was like in those movies, where there were those spinning views of passion, but not like I was watching porn._

_And I felt healed._

I could feel my blush as I told them that part. "And that was the dream I had last night."

"So _that's_ part why you were so happy this morning, Rose!" Alice went a little crazy. I couldn't help but blush even more.

We all squealed a little, and had a brief fit of celebration.

"Yeah. It's a little awkward, because we had that kiss, you know, in real life, and then that dream…and then he tells me he had the same dream…but the thing is, even though it was in a dream, I got over it. You know…it."

"Awww! You and Emmett are so going to get married!" Alice shouted. Izzy slapped a hand over her mouth and reminded her that the guys were going to get back any second.

And then we had the stereotypical girl talk that comes after, about all of our…'love interests' as Alice so eloquently put it.

It was so great, and I really did feel pretty normal.

"So! You and Edward smooch yet?" Oh, Izzy. So straightforward.

I sighed in contentment, because a good girl talk was something I really needed.

**AN/:** **Sorry for the delay...I had to move halfway across the country...to my least favorite state. Yeah. But because I'm not old enough to stay somewhere by myself, my parents and I are now living in New Jersey. Yep. So...anyways..hope you enjoyed this chapter...not one of my very best, but, you know. Yeaaaah. Awkward.**


	22. Common Occurrences

**Chapter 22: Common Ocurrences**

The week passed pretty uneventfully. We'd amped up the frequency of the practices, since it was getting closer and closer to when Alice said that James was going to come. We now practiced every day after school. Emmett had complained about being tired, but I had reminded him that it was either this or get his ass kicked in the first few minutes. After that he had been quiet on the matter, save the occasional groan. But Emmett was Emmett.

It always frustrated him when he would spar against me, since even though he had finally started thinking and not relying so much on brute strength, I was much faster than him. He'd get upset since he could never land a blow on me, but I would duck and weave and dance around him. It especially frustrated him that I was fast enough to avoid his punches and then land a quick succession of my own that he was having a pretty hard time blocking.

Jasper and I would spar with everyone once, to evaluate their progress and find weaknesses that they needed to work on, so that we could help them reach full potential. The rest of the time, we'd be working with someone individually or working on ourselves and each other. No matter how good you are, you can always be better, after all. Although recently we had also been working on not only solo fighting but also in pairs. When you fight in a pair with someone you trust and knows you, you can watch each other's backs, and make the whole process all the more efficient and powerful. Also, your opponent will find it harder to fight back.

Two heads and all.

Anyways, it was now Friday afternoon. Alice had instructed the guys to stay at my house and do whatever it is guys do, but to make sure Emmett was ready. She'd even picked out his clothes for him. Well, it was more _with_ him, since he was keeping the venue a secret from Rose, and didn't want to take any chances of it being leaked.

We females were meeting at Rose's house. Alice was going to bring all her torture devices, I mean, beauty supplies, while I was bringing snacks. Because apparently getting Rose ready was going to take three hours. Three. Hours. Absolute insanity in my book.

I was mostly going to just watch Alice work her pixie magic. I was a bit clueless as to the whole process, at least, Alice's process. Even Rose couldn't keep up with Alice's fashion mania, and she was a lover of pretty. So what hope did I really have? My normal attire is a graphic or band shirt and jeans. Or jean shorts. Not really very fashionable.

So I was most likely going to end up just sitting there talking to Rose and Alice, and maybe help with the basics. Which was fine with me. I could barely even braid my own hair 'properly'.

"Alright! Time to get started!" Alice chirped, plugging in a curling iron and setting it down to warm up. She turned to face us with a slightly manic gleam in her eyes, and clapped her hands together as a wide grin spread across her face. To be honest, I was a little freaked out at her expression, and I wasn't even the target of her mania. Man, was I glad I wasn't Rose. Rose looked completely alarmed and a little scared for her life.

Alice plugged my iPod into Rose's dock, since it had the most variety. I bought whichever songs I liked, regardless of the genre. The result was a mess of songs that sounded pretty eclectic when put on shuffle. And that was how I liked it.

Humming along softly to the current song, Alice sat Rose into the chair in front of her vanity, instructed me to comb her hair very thoroughly and then spray it with water and leave in conditioner. She then danced over to Rose's closet, and began looking through it, making small 'hmm' sounds periodically.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"Alright, finished!" the makeup and hair pixie extraordinaire announced. She dashed one last swipe of lip-tint across Rose's lips before leaning back to admire her work. "Yep! You look beautiful, Rose! Emmett is going to be all over you tonight!"

She was right. Rose was even more stunningly drop-dead gorgeous than ever. Her outfit was semi-casual, a backless silky red top and dark skinny jeans jacket, along with a kickin' pair of peep toe pumps with some bling on the front. A gold pair of earrings and necklace, along with some stacked bracelets finished her off. And that was as detailed a description my limited fashion knowledge allowed.

"She's right, Rose. You look fuckin' amazing." She smirked.

"I know. Thanks, you guys for getting me ready. Alice, you did some beautiful work, and Izzy did some great sitting."

"Hey, I did some _amazing_ sitting. I mean, not just anyone can sit as well as I do." Cheesy comeback, maybe, but it got the desired results.

"So, are you nervous?" Alice asked, as she was putting away all her various tools.

"Of course I'm nervous. It's a first date! But at the same time, it's Emmett. So I'm not worried about how it'll go, because as long as I'm with him, it'll be amazing." She had that starry eyed look, and I knew she had it bad.

Alice took a moment to 'awww!', before resuming her cleanup. "Well, he should be here soon, so you won't have to wait long." She paused for a moment, closing her eyes and concentrating on the feelings she sometimes got about the future, before speaking again. "In fact, the doorbell should ring just as I'm done with this sentence."

Right on time, the doorbell sounded. The biggest smile spread across Rose's face, as she grabbed her jacket and rushed to the door. Taking a moment to exhale, she smoothed down her already perfect hair and straightened her top. She took a deep breath in, before opening the door casually. I hid a smile. She had already gotten to the door, whereas I was only about halfway there, and Alice behind me.

"Hi," she breathed, her eyes all lit up and sparkling. Emmett on the other hand was completely silent, just staring at her and grinning like an idiot. A very lucky idiot.

Finally, he seemed to realize that she was expecting an answer. "Uh, yeah. Hi. You look-very nice." He had obviously seen the back, or lack thereof, of her shirt. He swallowed thickly and I fought back a laugh. "Seriously, Rose. Very nice." His tone said all the things that he didn't, and Rose gave him a stunning smile. He grinned back, and they kind of stood there for a while, just grinning at each other. "We should, uh, we should go now…yeah, Rosie?" This time I chuckled a little, under my breath. Emmett only ever had trouble speaking when it came to Rose. Plus he was the only one who could call her Rosie and get away with it. She said that when others said it, it sounded too cute, like a baby's nickname.

Rose just smiled again, and kissed him sweetly on the lips. With his arm around her waist, and his other closing the door, he caught my eye and winked. He then mouthed 'thank you' to Alice, and then they were off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

After I helped Alice pack up all her stuff, she loaded it all up in her car and sped off to her house. Today was one of the rare days her mother was home and wanted to spend time with her, so they would be having dinner together. Alice had been a little begrudging, after all they weren't that close. Also, she wanted to be waiting when Rose came back so she could hound her about her date as soon as possible. But she had agreed in the end. As long as she could take Edward. He was very good with adults, as they tended to agree with his polite and courteous demeanor. She was hoping that much of her mother's attention would be deflected onto him.

So that left me and Jasper, once again. Not that I was complaining.

Currently, I was watching him beat up a punching bag. He was working on some moves, and I was helping him, and vice versa, although it was his turn now. I was supposed to be currently watching him and telling him if he made an error. It was proving quite difficult. I kept getting distracted. And who could blame me? He was shirtless. And sweaty. And grunting. And I could see his muscles tightening with ever move he made. His dirty blond locks were hanging around his face in a haphazard way, and I found it mesmerizing. When I managed to focus, I would get sidetracked again. I would keep admiring his form, the quick lithe lethality of his strikes, his force and yet his swiftness, his footwork.

I blew a stray wisp of hair out of my face. It had fallen out of my ponytail and was apparently undeterred by the elastic headband. It was now annoying me, as it kept falling into the picture perfect view I had of Jasper. God he was hot. I swear, that guy will be the death of me. I was saved from further ridiculous thoughts by the clearing of a throat. He was standing in front of me, arms crossed and a single eyebrow lifted.

"Where did you go, Izzy?" he asked, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Oh…uh…I-you know what? I was staring at how fuckhot you are." Might as well tell him the truth. A full blown smirk now graced his lips, a soft chuckle escaping form them. He shook his head at me in amusement.

"Why thank you, darlin'," he said in that accent of his that made him impossibly sexier. What? I was a hormonal teenager with _Jasper_ as a…whatever he was to me. This was going to be a common occurrence.

**AN/: Hey, so sorry I haven't updated in a long time…my fault, entirely. But yeah. Originally this chapter was going to be more interesting, but at the end, it kind of just turned into fluff or whatever my version of fluff is. Yeah. So, I probably won't be updating very often, since real life gets in the way…just going to apologize in advance and ask you to keep this in the back of your mind…I'm so thankful and happy every time I get an email alerting the fact that I have a new review or someone put this on Alert, or Favorite Stories…yeah. Anyway, I fired up my crappy Microsoft Paint and threw together what I envisioned Rose's date outfit to look like…so link is below. Do with that information what you will. :)**

**Pics link: http / / : rustydaggers . blogspot 2012 / 07 / i-forgot-about-this-site-for-while . html (just remove the spaces and voila!)**


	23. Ready or NOT

**Chapter 23: Ready or NOT.**

I ran desperately, pushing my body as fast as I could. Despite all the tedious training to get myself in top shape, I felt like I was a slug. I was going to be too late. No! I couldn't be too late. They needed me. I pounded my feet into the ground swifter than I ever had before, but still felt like I was wading through jelly. Why couldn't I be _faster?_

It was hard to believe that only three days ago, Alice and I were grilling Rose about her date with Emmett. Hard to believe that just before that, I had been making out with Jasper. That we had all been safe and sound, thinking we knew what was going to happen. Preparing but never really knowing. I ran through those days in my mind, trying to find any clues that might help me.

_**Three Days Ago**_

"I'm telling you, Emmet was so sweet! And of course, he was hilarious. I know that this was our first official date, but I think I'm really falling for him, girls. There's just a connection that I have with him, and it's so strong and deep, you know? Does that sound totally stupid?" Rose snuggled further into a pillow.

Alice nodded sagely, and said, "Of course not. I feel that with Edward too, but we'd rather take it slow. And I _know_ Izzy feels it too with Jasper. I think we'll all be very happy together. So, more importantly, did you make out? What happened? Juicy details please!" She clutched onto Rose's arm, bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Better spill, Ro. I think the pixie-girl is high on fairy dust. Be careful, she might just rip your arm off." I lazily threw a pillow at Alice. She turned and pouted at me briefly, before the jack-in-the-box grin was on her face again.

"Come on, Rose! Don't deny me my fix! You have to tell me!" She shook Rose's poor arm violently, then put on those big, sad, pleading puppy dog eyes that she always uses whenever she wants something.

Rose tried to conceal a smile. I knew she secretly wanted to hash out and relive every last detail. "Okay, fine," she relented. I smirked. I was right.

She had the most faraway look in her eyes as she described everything about her date with Emmett, how he took her to this nice restaurant with a fountain, the nicest place in Forks. How he was a gentleman, but still Emmett. Everything, from the way he smiled secretly at her when she talked, to the way he gently held her hand as they left. As she talked, she had the warmest glow radiating from her, and I smiled. I was glad for them. For her, my best girlfriend, and for Emmett, my substitute-big-bro.

They were the best friends I'd ever had.

I was taken out of my fond musings when I actually saw Rose, the reigning Ice Queen at our school, giggle and blush. Apparently, they _had_ taken the opportunity to make out in Emmett's car. I had to laugh at that. I had a feeling that later on in their relationship, we'd have difficulty prying their mouths apart.

After our 'campfire', I went to go find Jasper. We'd had a pretty steamy make out session ourselves last night, and I was down for a repeat. That boy could get me so worked up…

Lost in my most delicious memories, I almost didn't notice when something in the atmosphere of my house, the unofficial house of all my friends, changed. I instantly paused in my recollections. I couldn't say for sure what was wrong, but it was very clear to me that something was. Just a heartbeat later, I heard Rose shout for all of us. I ran back where I came from, only to see her hovering, concerned, over Alice. She was clearly having another vision, but this one had her whimpering and shaking her head again and again. I waited until both Edward and Jasper got in, sensing their presence behind me, not to mention hearing Edward's footsteps, to go over to Rose.

"I-one moment we were making plans to go shopping, and then, she just-the other times, she didn't react like this. What's wrong?" I placed a soothing hand on my fretting friend's shoulder, then suddenly remembered something.

I whipped around, mouth opening to warn Edward to stay out of his range, just in time to see him start to fall and thrash in Jasper's arms. He held his brother tightly, containing the flailing limbs so Edward couldn't accidentally hurt himself.

They were both completely out of it, looks of grief, fear, and pain on their faces. I didn't know what they were seeing, but it clearly wasn't good.

Alice was screeching now, mostly just noises that tore at my heart. But all of a sudden, she started sobbing, screaming Edward's name on the top of her lungs. She started flailing, reaching into thin air. I quickly helped Jasper move Edward over next to her, watching as they immediately latched onto each other. Alice's sobbing seemed to subside just a little, as Edward subconsciously held her tightly, their eyes both screwed shut. They were feeding each other strength, while experiencing whatever this was.

Rose was cradling Alice's head in her lap, which seemed a little awkward since it was mostly buried in Edward's shoulder. She was stroking the smaller girl's spiky hair, sorrow and worry prominent in her face. I didn't know what to do with myself, and I saw Jasper stuff his hands in his pockets. We were both feeling worried and concerned about our friends, of course, we just weren't too good in situations as emotional as this.

We both tilted our heads towards the door at the same time, hearing an engine being shut off in my driveway. We started towards the front door just as the sound of it opening reached our ears.

"Honey, I'm home!" Emmet's joking, lighthearted voice filled the space, followed by a light chuckling at himself. But as soon as he looked up at our faces, it cut off abruptly. His eyes, now worried greatly, darted between us. "What's wrong? Rosie's not…"

I shook my head.

"Then…who? Alice?" Our absence of denial must've been all the confirmation he needed. He slowly shut the door, pure concern filling his features. Jasper explained what we'd witnessed, and Emmett immediately took off to go see his other little sis. We followed him up there and watched as he tried to go and comfort Edward and Alice, only to have Edward immediately groan in pain as soon as he got close. His thoughts were probably screaming concern, causing more stress on Edward's brain.

Rose locked eyes with Emmett, and they had a brief nonverbal conversation. He sighed and backed off a bit, just so he was out of Edward's range. Edward's face lessened its contortion a little. There was nothing for us to do but wait. Waiting is always the worst bit.

I couldn't help but worry. Worry about what was coming, worry about my friends, worry about Jasper and everything in between. I knew worrying wasn't going to help anything, but that didn't change anything. All the horrible what-ifs I normally don't allow myself to dwell on came bubbling up until I was a hot mess of stress. I felt pulled under a current of emotions that I didn't know how to handle. They were so foreign to me I feared I would drown. Until Jasper, sensing my distress placed a hand on my arm to calm me down. I mentally latched onto the touch, letting it ground me and a sort of calm to flood my body. Calm that only Jasper could bring me, because he was just Jasper.

I gave him a grateful smile, and he returned a slightly troubled one. We both turned to look at Edward and Alice, still in the same position, a small whimper escaping every now and then from their intertwined forms.

The pose would've been romantic and adorable in any other situation.

After some more mindless waiting, and a cloud of negative emotions, their grip on each other loosened a fraction, and their expressions weren't as heart-wrenching. The noises dissolved into nothing, just a quiet sort of silence, filled with tension from us and relief from them.

Edward started rubbing Alice's back almost absentmindedly, and she snuggled in closer. Their hold was loosened, but I knew they needed time to recover and discuss and rest before they could explain to us. I exchanged a glance with Jasper, who dipped his head in agreement, then gestured for Rosalie and Emmett to follow us out of the room.

Rose shut the door gently, and tugged at her hair. "What happened that made them act that way? It was…almost like they were…in pain. I'm glad they're okay now, but that raises a question. What's going to happen? It can't be good. Ohhhhh, I have a bad feeling."

Emmett gently pulled her into his side. "Shhh. It'll all turn out fine. I promise. Shhh. Let's let them tell us what they saw before we start getting worried, okay?" Rosalie bobbed her head quickly, pent up nervous energy making her movements less regal than usual.

"He's right. Let's just cool down and relax until they're ready. We don't want to work them up." Jasper spoke calmly as usual, and I think that, more than anything convinced Rose and Emmett to breathe. Normal wasn't something we had, I mean, we'd been preparing for a battle against a small gang from halfway across the country, for fuck's sake. But Jasper had a way of keeping a level head and making you feel more…grounded.

We all took our time to relax; I beat up a punching bag to avoid working out my emotions on any unwitting objects. Jasper was right beside me, landing aggressive punches on the poor sack. After taking the time to clear our minds, we prepared ourselves to not provoke negative feelings in the duo resting upstairs. They were always a little weak after one of Alice's big visions.

When they called out for us, we all made our way to Alice's room. I felt surprisingly laid back and mellow. Well, as mellow as I can be while still keeping constant track of my surroundings and vigilantly devoting a section of my brain to the minutest of details or changes that occurred.

After hearing them describe their experience, we could see why they'd gone through an emotional equivalent of falling fifty stories into a pit of knives. They explained that it seemed James and Victoria had decided to come earlier than we'd planned for. It was happening soon. Maybe even as soon as this week. They'd stolen several cars, and were on their way right that moment. Apparently, they'd seen that they'd happen upon us when Jasper and I were somewhere else, and abducted them. They'd tortured the U.H. from earlier, and I mean really tortured and not just scaring him like we did, until he admitted the real story. They knew that these people were important to us. Very important. Important enough to hold hostage.

And, apparently, they'd gotten bored at some point and decided that for fun, they'd rough all of them up a little while waiting for me and Jasper, to film it and rile us up. Rose would have to watch Emmett get drugged and waterboarded, he'd have to watch her get felt up and groped by James. Edward would have to see Alice get intimidated, and step in before they could lay hands on her, getting punches for his trouble. But they'd get too carried away, and Edward would get very near to death. Or…no. Don't even think that, Izzy. They said that the vision cut off there. They didn't see Edward's fate, any of their fates.

The only reason I wasn't horrified for my friends, who were closer to me than family, was because I clung to the hope that the future could change. After all, the future depends on random choices and little coincidences that happen to fit together a certain way, right? Alice said this happened while Jasper and I were separated from the rest of the group, so all we had to do was stick to them like gum to the sole of a shoe, and we'd be fine. We had to be, otherwise we were screwed six ways to Sunday. And not even the good kind, either.

I saw that the other two couples were exchanging glances filled with meaning, so I shared my plan with them. My theory about the future being made up of different parts that we could change, and how we could change the future, hopefully. It did little to appease the gnawing foreboding they felt under the surface, but I could tell that they were at least mollified, for now.

So, the next day I didn't let them out of my sight. Jasper and I took shifts during the nighttime, just to make sure, and we drug a pile of bedding to a spare room, as it was the prime location to be able to escape in case something happened, and not the easiest for invaders to enter.

The next day, we were sleepy, but no less vigilant. Unfortunately, our continual presence reminded the others of the dark vision just as continually. Emmett busted out some beer. We were all underage, but they needed something to take the edge off. Otherwise, they probably would've died from the stress, worry, anxiety, and terror, anyways. It was a one-time thing. Jasper drank a little, and I eventually accepted one, too. Not enough to get drunk, in case we needed to fend off the enemy, just enough to get buzzed while still maintaining control over our mental faculties. We stopped as soon as we felt it begin to dim our brain functions.

Unfortunately, the others were pretty drunk. I rolled my eyes at them, but fondly. We watched them laugh, if liquor-induced, and hug sloppily and make out. Okay, so we tried our best not to see them make out. I eventually excused myself to go to the bathroom, and Jasper went to go retrieve a book he was reading, to entertain himself with.

I realized our mistake as I was washing my hands, hearing creaks and barely-masked footsteps rapidly enter and leave the house. The bathroom door was caught, and all I could do was shove again and again as I heard surprised yelps come from the general direction of my room. My heart beat a tattoo, hard and fast in my throat, and I prayed Jasper would get to them before I did. I finally broke through the door, and raced to my room, wrenching that door open. My heart sunk as I saw the last few clambering through the window, and felt Jasper's presence fast advancing at my back. That's right. His room was slightly soundproofed, and the farthest away from here. He probably hadn't been alerted as fast as I had. I then cursed myself for freezing up, and shook myself into action.

I launched myself across the room, barely managing to grab onto the heel of the last guy. He tried to shake my grip, but they'd just taken four out of the five most important people in my life. I reigned in my emotions as best I could and tried get back into my fighting mindset.

I yanked and kneeled, adding in a half twist, and he landed flat on his back with a groan. I quickly pinned him down so he couldn't escape. Jasper came over and pinned his upper body while I hauled back and punched him, straight in the gut. Not as hard as I wanted to, but enough to cause pain and wind him.

"WHERE DID YOU TAKE THEM? WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH THEM?" I was half out of my mind, the least in control of myself and my emotions I'd ever been. Jasper was acting calmer, but I could see how frazzled he was feeling, too.

He wasn't answering, so I punched him again, this time breaking his nose. I felt the crunch and the wet feeling of blood through his mask as it began to fill and soak through it. Jasper ripped the mask off so he wouldn't suffocate on his own blood. As much as we wanted to kill him, he wouldn't be able to give us the information we wanted if he was dead.

But as soon as his face was revealed I lost some of the heat of my anger to mind-numbing white noise. I stared, horrified at his features as he just stared at me, spitting the blood out of his mouth. I jumped off of him, pacing frantically back and forth. I thought he was dead.

"What? How-you're dead. You're dead. I must be imagining things. You're not here. You're dead." I kept mumbling like this, filled with frantic energy as all of it came down on me at once.

Jasper looked more confused and worried than ever. All he knew was that the identity of one of the masked culprits had made me freak out, the worst he'd seen, not including when I had the dream-thing about him being dead. He yanked Jake up and slammed him against a nearby wall. His forearm formed a bar against the throat of my once-best-friend, as he snarled in his face. "_**Who. Are. You.**_"

I gathered myself together, once again, as best I could. I squashed my emotions down as far as I could, but still couldn't get over my raging curiosity.

"How…" My voice was weaker and more scared than I'd thought it would be. It even broke at one point, higher pitched than I'd ever heard it. I cleared my throat and took a calming breath, gravitating towards Jasper and placing a hand on his back to steady myself. This time, my voice was stronger, but was still softer than I'd like. "How are you alive, Jake?"

Jasper's eyes immediately snapped to me. I'd told him all about Jake. Not about…what happened to him, but I'd told him what he was to me.

The defiant look in my long-lost friend's eyes toned down a little, and he sighed. The rigorously tense position he'd been holding sagged, and he fell to the ground as Jasper retracted the arm pinning him up. He was sitting with his elbows resting on his knees, head in his hands.

I drew closer, but still maintained contact with Jasper. He was centering me, and I needed that. I thought I'd been the reason he died. "You made me think you were _dead,_ Jake! You made me think you got killed because of _me!_ And all this time…you were _alive?_ You work for James now?" My voice was more of a wail now, and I had to get control, quick.

He looked up, sighed, and looked back down. After a second, he exhaled and stood up. Jasper tensed beside me. Jake held up a hand, rubbing his forehead, and walked slowly over to a chair. He sat down with a sigh, and reached up to realign his nose. Jasper and I slowly approached and sat down across from him.

"You want to know what happened? I suppose I owe you an explanation. For old times' sake. The beginning was the day I told you I liked you, as more than just friends. You said you needed time to think, so I let you have your space. But all hope that you felt the same way was gone, because you feel with everything you have, even if you don't allow yourself to know it, and you'd have known if you did. So I went for a walk to clear my head, but I was feeling reckless, stupid, hurt, and all that. Then, that guy was talking all kinds of stupid trash about you, and I knew that you upset a lot of people, and he was just embarrassed he got beat by a girl, and since you're the only really good female fighter, you're bound to get a lot of insults. But my emotions were running high, after the rejection, and I nailed him, a hard one right in the chest. I knew he was supposed to be a bad little fucker, but I punched him, hard. But he had a knife, and you know what happened. You passed by just as he stabbed me in the side, and you kicked his ass before calling me an ambulance. Then…you held me. I could hear you praying that I'd be alright, even though you're not religious." I shifted slightly in my seat. He heard that?

Jasper stared at me, hard, for a moment at that part. I hadn't told him. Not because I didn't trust him, because I did, with my life. But because the guilt was too much to bear, and I didn't want him looking at me differently. Looking at me like I was a murderer.

"I was rushed to the hospital, and you were told I didn't make it. I know you've carried the guilt this whole time, but it isn't your fault. It's his, okay?" Jake leaned forward then, staring into my eyes. "I knew you didn't feel the same way. And even if you did, you weren't in any condition to be in a relationship. You were still hung up over your parents' deaths. I was the one stupid enough to punch him, he was the one who stabbed me. Not. You. Okay?"

"But if I hadn't sent you away…" I felt the guilt building up, and my hold on Jasper's arm tightened. He put an arm over my shoulders, and rubbed my arm. I felt a little bit better, knowing that he was still willing to be here for me, even though I'd gotten one of my best friends killed. Or..not killed.

"Hey, I'm not dead. You shouldn't blame yourself any longer. Not that there's anything to forgive, but if that's what you need, I forgive you. Now, I should probably tell you why I'm not dead. The thing is, the doctors healed me. It was one of James' henchmen that impersonated a doctor and told you I was dead. When I woke up, James was there. He told me that you thought I was dead because he knew it would so-called 'weaken' you. He said that if I helped him, he'd leave my sisters alone, and even though they basically abandoned me, they're still my sisters. I agreed to go along with him as long as he didn't hurt you. I didn't even know we were capturing your friends, all I knew was that James gave us a list of their names and their pictures, and told us where to go and to bring them back to him. I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

I nodded my acceptance, mind racing with the new information. That bastard. James was going to pay for this.

My anger gave me fuel. It was familiar, and I latched onto it. Pacing back and forth, I thought of so many things, until something occurred to me.

I slowed, and halted. "Jake…" I hesitated. "You did know that Rachel and Rebecca passed away, right?"

He looked like his worst fears had just been confirmed. He sighed and lowered his head. "I had a bad suspicion. I just didn't know for sure. But I've lived with that feeling forever." He looked back up. "How?"

"Drunk driver."

He took a shaky breath. "I can come to accept that. At least I'm free now, I guess." I gave him a moment to catch his breath, taking Jasper with me as I ducked out of the room.

He didn't look at me accusingly, or even betrayed at my not telling him. He just gave me an understanding expression, and pulled me in for a hug. I held him tightly, as tight as I could. I was feeling a little vulnerable, and I had an illogical thought that if I held him tight enough, he wouldn't be able to disappear like everyoone else. He seemed to feel the same way, because he had difficulty letting me go.

I felt better, more grounded. Jasper could do that to me. I gave him a soft kiss in thanks, and he stroked my hair for a while. I didn't let anyone else see me like this, and he was the only one who could comfort me without making me feel weak or open for attack. Because I learned quickly that to show vulenrabilty often meant to invite pain, and I wasn't stupid.

But with Jasper, all the rules were twisted and bent out of shape in a beautiful way. I couldn't lose him like we'd lost the others, or I'd break apart for sure. We had to stick together and get our little family back.

We entered the room with a cooler head than when we exited. Jake seemed to have pulled himself together, too. He was wiping the blood off his face with his already bloody mask. He looked up as we drew near, and stood up, eyes steeled. The message was clear. He'd grieve later. He was going to hold himself together until this was over.

"Will you take us to them?" There was no need to tell who 'them' was refferring to. There was only two people in the world that could fill Jasper's voice with that much disgust and anger.

Jacob nodded fiercely, some kind of unspoken testosterone-speak going on between them. I rolled my eyes. They better not start acting all over-manly and stupid. There was a lot at stake.

I remembered that in Alice's vision, they'd been drugged and couldn't fight back. The buzz from the alchohol had worn off by now, helped along by the adrenaline. My head was clear, and I realized we had drunk just a little too much, which is why our judgement had been so off. Why we left them alone.

Jake gestured us to follow him, and we did, jumping out the window soundlessly. We ran, pushing ourselves faster and faster, yet still staying behind Jake. We sped through trees, leaping through gaps and vaulting over fallen trunks. When we started to make out an abandoned building of some sort through the trees, Jake suddenly stopped.

He wheeled around to face me, his eyes wide. "I-I can't." He shook his head fiercely, and I understood. He'd basically been blackmailed to do who knows what in that building. He didn't want to have to go in there again.

"It's fine. Run, Jake. We'll do what we came to do. Thanks ." Without pausing to hear a response, I took off, Jasper at my side. We veered around a giant tree, as I told myself to be _faster_.

After what seemed like forever, we stopped at the edge of the clearing that narrowly surrounded the building. It was falling apart and seemed forgotten, and there were several nervous-looking teenagers patrolling around it with machine guns. I do _not_ like guns. I didn't like them, but that didn't mean I couldn't use one. I just hoped we could do this without any casualties. How many of these kids, around my age, were forced into doing this like Jake was?

I silently communicated this to Jasper, who nodded. He wasn't much of a gun guy, but like me, he could shoot with deadly accuracy if he had to.

We crept silently closer, and were just about to dart through a gap in their patrol when something weird happened. I don't know how to explain it, but it was like a wave of color and sound crashed over us, and I saw throught the dizzying sensation that Jasper's eyes were glazing over. Mine probably matched his, as I felt myself lose balance and land on the forest floor. Thankfully, soundlessly.

As I was drowning under the sea of rainbow fog, all I could think was, _NOT NOW_.

**AN:/ That's right, I"m BAAAACK! It feels good to be able to update, finally! My computer troubles are over, once again, and will hopefully stay that way. I felt the need to make James and Victoria finally start to be more directly involved with this story, because if I kept putting it off, the story would've probably never gotten anywhere. Just meaningless fluff again and again. I'll probably start combining some of the chapters soon, because a lot of them didn't really have the content I envisioned. Anyway...hopefully my updates will be more regular now. Fingers crossed!**


	24. Walk Down Memory Lane

**Chapter 24: Walk Down Memory Lane**

Rapid clips were flashing one after another in my mind, sounds and voices and shouts from a different lifetime. It reminded me of the time right after I first kissed Jasper, but this time my brain somehow retained all this information and put it into a comprehensive collage of events.

There were parallel versions of my life, as I grew older and lived through several different timelines. The clothes I wore were different each time, and the times were clearly spaced throughout history. It didn't seem possible, but apparently I'd lived different lives in the past. Reincarnations, maybe? The past lives were all coming together, and I recognized scenes from the dreams I'd been having, which appeared to be my most recent life. A massive, interwoven timeline began to emerge, and I noticed a pattern of familiar faces.

In some, I went through my entire life without meeting any of my treasured friends, and in those I tended to die young, for the time period. But it seemed that for every past-version of my friends past-me met, I'd live longer and happier. The ones where I'd met Jasper, that familiar feeling of deep, strong attachment was there. We'd started seeing each other in different forms, changing with the time period, but we always seemed to live quite long. Unless one of us died on the hands of another, and then those responsible had been dealt with, and the other had died shortly after. For some reason, I'd never met all five, although it seemed in my last one I'd come close. Emmett's laughter-filled face was conspicuously missing.

I began to put the pieces together. So, what, I'd been being reincarnated over and over to…meet all five of the most important people in my life? That seemed to be the thing. Well, I've met them all, now what? I'd come closest in my last life, so I delved deeper into those memories in search of clues.

I skimmed past the ones I'd already experiences the gist of, looking for the thread of where I left off. Okay, so I'd been bitten…somehow, and taken to a camp for Newbies…met Jasper…. clearly, we were vampires, I mean; we drank blood, for fuck's sake. Ah, here we go.

_I was confused. Major Jasper was an odd one, all right. After the battle, after he'd erased all my doubts, and made sure I was safe, he'd been stuck in his tent for most of the time, only coming out to fulfill his training duties. I knew that I shouldn't care so much about how far he was away from me, and yet I found myself counting the seconds and the inches between us. At first, I was extremely unsure of myself. He obviously cared. He kept up a façade, but I could sense that much. Besides, the cracks in his mask were enough to show that. But had something changed? Did I do something that scared him off?_

_Then I remembered how he had warned me about my gifts, and thus recalled all the warnings whispered between the older soldiers about Her views on mating. I didn't know what mating exactly meant, but I did know it was a relationship of some sort with a deep attachment. While I wouldn't go so far as to say Major Jasper and I had any sort of real relationship, we did have that odd pull. And we did care about each other, at least, each other's survival._

_So maybe, Maria's views on any sort of care were the same. Maybe Major Jasper couldn't show that he cared about any Newbie more than the others. That was probably it._

_For the period of time after my decision, I was determined to go along. I followed his lead, and acted like I only knew him as much as the average Newbie. But I knew something else was wrong. The Newbies were gaining more control, but we were also becoming…less strong. I didn't think the others noticed, but I did. I didn't really need my extra strength, but the others relied on it to fight, and I was defeating them more and more easily while sparring. Even if we assume I'd gotten better, they were still performing below par, and steadily dropping, as well._

_That might've been just an observation I filed away in my mind, but it worried me, because I was different. In the beginning, I was controlled enough to remember the other others, and how they'd gone for an 'extra special training session', and the sounds and smells that had followed. I remembered how they'd never come back._

_Now, with my knowledge of how we could be killed, and the brief face of grief, regret, guilt and pain that had been shown to me on accident while the major passed by, I realized what was about to happen._

_Apparently, we were nearing some sort of marking of time, and when we did, we'd be…disposed of. I'd long since disregarded the concept of time, at least as far as minutes, hours, days, and weeks went. But I quickly backtracked, counting the times I'd seen the sun rise and set._

_My venom went cold, metaphorically. Because if I was right, and I'd learned that our kind was usually right, we only had a few weeks left. The culling of the Yearlings._

_Maria suspected a little about my gift, but she didn't know the half of it, thanks to Major Jasper withholding certain information about me. To protect me. And I don't even know all of it, either, and so for him to do that for me…_

_So that was what had added the extra stress only I could sense near Major Jasper. But it wasn't like I could change anything by realizing this information, and so I tried my best to put it out of my mind. I didn't know why, but I was certain Major Jasper wouldn't kill me. Just like I felt physically sick at the thought of really injuring him, I knew he would too._

_I was more curious as to his beginnings in this life, so I paid extra careful attention to what the older ones whispered about him. They said that he'd been one of the first turned, by Her and some sisters She'd apparently gotten rid of when they tried to take over for themselves. Some sisters. He'd been a particularly difficult one, though, and had so much built-in fury he'd decimated a large radius around the camp. He'd started attracting attention from something called the Volturi, so they'd had to move many times._

_She'd tried in vain to control him, as he showed them true fear, killing so many the humans started to fear him, too, although they came up with their own explanation for him._

_He hadn't been killed though, partly because She knew she couldn't even try, and partly because she saw his value and potential. After he'd calmed down a bit, She'd begun torturing him. She kept him away from blood so he was weakened, and had a team of Newbies she'd specially turned and trained hold him down, while she inflicted the worst things imaginable. He could've probably still fought them off, but the Bitch had his human family, who he'd loved very much. Now that he was sane enough to comprehend the threat, he'd basically had to let himself be tortured. They described some of the horrible things she'd forced on him, and I felt a great rage building up in my torso. I'd had to hold in my snarls at that point. Next time I saw her, she was dead._

_They said that it was apparently eerie to watch his struggles. They were silent, powerful. He wouldn't give her the pleasure of hearing his pain, and he was too good of a soldier to waste his energy on pointless things like that, anyways. But he'd pinned his limbs to the ground, and it was mostly struggles to not just kill everyone and be done with it._

_After the last of his family died of natural causes, never successfully reproducing for some reason, the Bitch grew worried. She knew he'd find out soon enough, so she'd begun to seduce him. He was feral and instinctive, like a Newbie, powerful, too. He was controlled enough not to be sloppy when feeding, but his power meant he had to feel the lust of everyone in that camp, and he'd fucked her. She'd then manipulated and duped him into thinking he had some twisted kind of love for her, exploiting the attachment one was supposed to feel for their sire until they were well controlled. Normally, the impossibility of the sire directly killing their childes, and their childes' attachment to their sires that lasted a year or two after the Newbie phase was supposed to make sure of the continuement of our kind._

_But the Southern Warlords had found a way against that. Just make other childe kill the childe that needed disposing of._

_After it had worn off, abnormally early for Major Jasper, he'd been given a place as second in command. He didn't know of any other life, and so began his legend. He was a huge threat on the battlefield, and thus stayed as official Second, although everyone knew he was really First. He just didn't want to deal with having to kill everyone if he dethroned Her, as he did have a conscience under that rough exterior of his. They said that names and titles were important when addressing him. His human name had been Jasper Whitlock, and Jasper was the name he'd assigned his last shreds of humanity. They speculated on what Jasper was like. Nobody had ever glimpsed that private part of himself, apparently. I secretly smiled, because I had, if only for a brief second._

_Nobody could call him that without getting immediately decapitated and thrown into the fire. Except for one. That Peter I'd heard about. I heard all about the Captain, and his mate. One day, Peter had accidentally called him Jasper after they'd disposed of an old batch of Newbies._

_He'd expected to die, but instead, was left alive with the memory of the haunting, calculating stare Major Jasper had levied him with._

_Major was what most called him, as it was the default persona of his time in the Wars, a calculating, skilled, and powerful son of a bitch, the one who led us all into battle, the Second of Maria's Army. The Major had his own two settings, regular, and battle mode. They were pretty self-explanatory. They said that he was the mid-ground, and the one who was in charge of keeping the God of War away._

_The God of War was the one who nobody wanted to ever have the misfortune of meeting head-on, one who came out infrequently. But he'd come out a lot in the beginning, that fuery-fueled Warmaker that struck fear into the most badass of hearts. As Major Jasper gained more control, that side of him had been locked away, for the most part. They expressed their relief at this, and I found myself wondering._

_I'd probably been the only one; besides this Peter that had even glimpsed at Major Jasper's humanity, and that was why I called him Major Jasper instead of Major. Of course, I hadn't addressed him face-to-face with this moniker, but I felt that after seeing the softer side of him, I couldn't quite line him up with the Major._

_I heard of how the only reason for Her success was mostly Major Jasper. He had a very tactical mind, and the Newbies were part of a large plan concocted from his mind, without even knowing it._

_I didn't even realize that there were other camps, under Her control, that he travelled regularly to. I knew he left sometimes, but not where too. We were considered the more elite Newbies, as we were under his personal instruction. Others he appointed trained the rest._

_I heard a lot more of their stories, and felt like I had a better grasp on Major Jasper Whitlock, the God of War and one of the most feared in our world. I also at least knew the basics of vampire lore._

_I learned about the Volturi and how Maria had managed to escape persecution thus far. They watched, they always watched, monitoring the risk of exposure. Other armies had been wiped out hen they got too careless._

_I was informed a little more about what mates were, and started to have a sneaking suspicion, one I didn't dare examine. Because now that I knew what mates meant, I didn't want to think about the obvious, glaring parallels._

_Every day, we were still training, although I knew, and They knew it was pointless. Unless there was a surprise battle, we wouldn't need more skills. The other Newbies would be dead._

_This was further evidenced by the screams of pain we heard on the other side of camp. New Newbies. We weren't even Newbies anymore, they called us Nearlies. Nearly dead. It was rare that one was spared, that's where the Others came into it. They were the ones deemed useful enough to survive past the year mark in order to train and impose some sort of order into this Newborn Army. I now realized we were only one regiment of who knows how many. They said we were called the Seventh. The regiments weren't numbered in terms of skill; nobody really knew how they were numbered. Separate regiments were kept apart, most of the time, so not even They knew how many there were. _

_The organization system was based on that of the Civil War armies, as that war was the one Major Jasper had been in, and so was the one organizational structure they actually had knowledge of. But as one of our kind can do more destruction than a human soldier, we didn't have companies. We didn't usually need the other groupings, either, so regiments were really the only ones we needed to know._

_Then, one day it all changed. There had been rumors leading up to Her visit to our regiment. She usually spent her time with the Third and Second. I liked it that way. _

_From what I could tell from the days leading up, the entire camp got a kind of harried feeling to it, everyone seemed anxious and in a bad mood. Even Major Jasper was more agitated. I didn't really know why he still stayed with her. He sure as hell didn't care about her, that much was evident. Everyone knew he could easily just kill her and be done with it, and it's not like he still feels attachment to Her as his sire. From the way he was acting, like he was more unhappy than anything at her coming to disrupt him, he most likely didn't feel any traces of affection for her anymore. He didn't know of any other life, but there clearly was. I mean, his friend-that Peter had to have run to somewhere, right?_

_Perhaps it was just normal, something he was used to now, and familiarity is more comfortable than heading off into the distance to the unknown. Major Jasper was a tactical one, so he probably wouldn't want to risk it on just hope._

_Or maybe he just hadn't felt the need to go. He did have a life here, however twisted it was. He had power, control…and guilt. The deep-running regret he felt for the things he's done was something that jumped out at me. I don't think anyone else has noticed, but I saw it, and it tugged at my heartstrings._

_So, us Nearlies were forced to train harder and more often to prepare for her visit. The Newbies were kept far away from us, from what I understand all vampires dislike being grouped together in large numbers and close quarters, not just me. And while that could only be helped so much at this camp, they did try to separate us. The Newbies' instincts would be running high right now, without Major Jasper's gift it would be complete chaos._

_So anyway, the day she came, it all went bad. At first, it was fine. We heard her talking with Them, the older ones, and the fearful replies they gave. We heard her tone take on a more manipulative, seductive tone when it came to Major Jasper. We also heard his terse, short and straightforward replies. She seemed a little offended at being turned down when she was clearly propositioning him even though she had access to probably scores of potential lovers running on instinct. He must be _something_ in the sack, I thought to myself with a smile. Any other would be positively jumping at the chance._

_When she went to go check up on the Newbies, I immediately sensed a disturbance at our camp's perimeter. Someone was trying to either spy or sneak in. Why would anyone want to sneak in? Even if they were from a competing army, they surely wouldn't try anything when we were all on guard, would they? I reached out further with an aspect of my ability, and was curious to find they were doing well with evading the guards._

_Our camps were moved often, and if there was even a whisper that some spy was coming, Major Jasper would leave and come back a short while later, and the whispers would be gone. He didn't trust anyone else to do the job. So, how would somebody know the routine well enough to evade the guards? There were two of them, a male and a female, both gifted._

_I could feel their sparks, a kind of glow I could only kind of see when I closed my eyes. Of course, I wasn't going to leave myself open to attack like that, and I could perfectly well sense it almost as well with my eyes open. Interestingly enough, they didn't feel like a threat. I couldn't explain it, but I didn't think of it as danger. One thing I'd come to learn about my ability was that it worked actively to keep me safe. That meant a variety of things. A physical…shield or bubble of some sort, a mental defense against ones that operated on that level, and a bunch of added…perks. For one, I knew strongly what was a threat to me, and what wasn't. I also could replicate other people's gifts, as long as they'd been in my shield before, or had been what I considered an immediate threat. For instance, if I was about to fight, actually fight to the death, with someone who had a gift, I found I could copy his or her ability._

_There were other things I couldn't quite explain yet, but that wasn't what I was particularly worried about. I was worried about how Maria would act if she found out. I didn't know why they were here, and while they may not harm _me, _they could be out for other venom. I was worried about Major Jasper's safety. It was silly, really. Firstly, he more than knew how to protect himself. To attack him would be plain stupid. Yes, there was the possibility that a young, rash, Newbie would disregard their instincts and go after him because they were too blind and new to know better, or a younger vampire would do the same because they were too cocky and thought they could beat him and get glory and fame in our world. But he could handle them easily._

_Secondly, he wasn't mine to worry about. So why was I? A voice in the back of my head, most likely Skydd, hissed at me that he _was_ mine._

_Forever. Eternally mine. Ours. He's ours._

_I shook my head and cautiously looked around. Most of the other Nearlies were fighting, fucking on the dirt floor, or clutching their throats. They might have more control, but they-we were still young. Apparently young ones tend to have existences centered on those things. Tensions running high make them more susceptible in the Wars._

_We haven't fed in a while, and I felt an uncomfortable itching, sore feeling at the back of my throat. It wasn't nearly the horrible, all-consuming pain of thirst that the others seemed to feel, would feel in a few days. But this was pretty much the worst it got for me. I'd mused idly once on why that was, and though that maybe it was part of my gift. To survive, I'd have to be able to go longer without blood._

_My brain, like all of ours, was able to think of many things at once, and I often found myself-or the majority of myself, sidetracked, thoughts heading in all different directions. I had heard that while older vamps still felt like that sometimes, it got better. I did notice that I could get myself back on track faster as time passed._

_However, I snapped my attention back to the two sparks at the edge of camp. Major Jasper knew they were there, this I could sense. He was sending out a small amount of calm, something that I doubt anybody else could acknowledge, but it was slowly but surely increasing. It didn't change my emotions, of course, but the others were slowly retreating to lick their wounds, climaxing a final time and then separating, or loosening their grips on their throats slightly. I could feel it curl around my shield. While I could tell it wasn't mine, I did know what it was and feel it just enough to tell the changes. It was like a separate part of me was roped off just for the purpose of feeling his projected emotions and then identifying and monitoring them. This was most likely to make up for the fact that I intentionally put up a blockade around his spark, or glow, or whatever. I made the decision not to copy his gift, because it took a toll on him, and I didn't want that toll. That's what I told myself, at least. In reality, it felt too personal…like robbing him of something, and I somehow felt that would make me feel guilty, and hurt, like I was robbing myself. But, I could still analyze his emotions._

_It, his calm, was tinged with recognition and relief, as well as some other emotions so faint I could barely feel them. I reached further with my gift, as it was basically survival and protection, and understanding others' gifts must be connected to that, right? I was correct, as I could sense that he also felt joy, anxiety, anticipation, and longing. A burning desire to do…something ran through it, and I heard him shake Maria off by telling her he had to do some training, and she was welcome to watch. She declined, a small dose of distaste in her voice. Apparently, she wasn't too interested in this process. He must've known that, because I felt a slight uplifting to his emotions._

_I wasn't feeling them like he could, but I knew what he was feeling. It didn't work on the other Nearlies, just him. I didn't know why, but I barely understood my gift, and as I had only a basic grasp on most of the other aspects of the sparkly life, I didn't really try to._

_He was coming this way, and he paused at the entrance. Then, he silently changed course, running towards the perimeter, towards the two sparks. I couldn't hear him, but I could sense where he was. Mostly by identifying that weird pull I had to him, and how much it was tugging at me. Maybe a little from his spark, too. It was a bright but deep gold color but also flickered, sometimes yellow-orange, sometimes a burnt, more reddish color, sometimes brownish. It was very fascinating and I had tried mentally dissecting it, sort of, and I got layers of black, although there were other streaks mixed in. It was fascinating, and I always watched it somewhere in my mind._

_I found that usually the colors were unique shades and hues and tints, wavering only slightly to lighter or darker. Unless a dramatic change came to the person, then, the spark of their gift would also morph slightly._

_He stopped again in front of the other two sparks, one a darker shade of pink, and one a light gray. My own spark was a deep hue of blue, but there was another layer, a darker one, bordering on black. Below that, like Major Jasper, I found mostly black._

_My best guess was that these were our…other personalities coming into play. Most of our kind, from what I could understand, did have a slightly more instinctual frame of mind capable of doing whatever they had to for survival, their 'demon', 'monster', or 'true vampire'. But distinct, separate yet the same personalities? And three of them? Major Jasper was the only one heard of, and I mentally included myself to that list._

_Major Jasper had been here for a long time. He'd been through war, hell. Maybe it was some type of multiple personality disorder. But, no, that wasn't right. Because I didn't have these before I was changed, and the changing was supposed to heal not crack._

_Besides, there were slight differences._

_He seemed to be conversing with them. His changing emotions were evident of that, thought they were speaking too low to hear. They did seem familiar, and all parties were loyal to each other, true blue._

_Was this that Peter I'd heard about? It had to be, for Major Jasper to feel this emotionally attached to them. More so to the male, though, so it must be Peter and his mate._

_But why were they back?_

_I sensed the strangers fade back a little, as Major Jasper came closer and closer to the tent once more. He stepped inside, manipulating the emotions of the others so that they weren't interested in his arrival. They didn't even look up. He must be very good, because their instincts usually screamed at them to be very careful around him._

_He stopped in front of me, and just kind of stared. I tilted my head to the side, confused and intrigued. What was this?_

_He slowly stepped towards me, cautiously pulling me towards him. That feeling of safety and comfort seeped through my arm and spread to my whole body, and I went willingly. It wasn't his gift, because the expression on his face told me he felt it, too. Besides, my shield was still up, fitting over my skin._

_I lowered my physical shield, as we slowly made our way out. I felt the disinterest a bit more strongly, however it still didn't fully affect me. Interesting. His gift must be both physical and mental, as well as a little bit of something else._

_I was going with him, now, picking up the pace slightly as we passed by some of the Others. Seeing that I was with him, they probably assumed I'd gotten myself into trouble and he was taking me somewhere to punish me._

_But we started running towards the perimeter as soon as they turned away in disinterest. His hand was at the small of my back now, guiding me gently towards the two sparks I'd felt._

_We weren't bothering to mask the sound of our footsteps, and I sensed that Maria was near. She was following us. She probably realized what we were doing!_

_Major Jasper swore, speeding us up so we were running full-speed. We joined up with those two sparks, a stockier version of him, with slightly different facial features, and his mate, a woman slightly shorter than average and blond. They looked like…kindred spirits, but I didn't have time to dwell on that now._

_The situation, while grasped by my brain almost immediately, didn't seem real. We were running full out, when Major Jasper swung in front of us for a second._

_He gruffly spoke to us, almost too low for us to hear, but just loud enough that we knew what he was saying. "This is Peter and Charlotte. They'll take care of you. Run, all three of you. She's my mate; take care of her, okay? I have to make sure she won't give us any trouble. I'll catch up to you where we said, alright? Thank you guys, I'll owe you forever, if we can pull this off. Pete, you're my basically my brother, and…" He stopped. "…I've gotta go, she's catching up, and she's got some guards with her. Run."_

_He quickly turned right back and flashed off towards the Mistress Bitch. I moved to follow him on instinct, but the rumored Peter and Charlotte held me back. They warned me with their eyes not to, and I remembered what he said. I knew he could handle it. Even though I was worried, he'd specifically told me to go with them, and run._

_So against my better judgment, I turned and did what he had told me to. I ran. That pull I felt strained further and further, so much so that it actually hurt, and while I rubbed my chest, his words repeated like a mantra in my head._

_Run. I'll catch up to you. Run. Run. Where we said. Run. They'll take care of you. Run._

_From what I knew, he was a man of his word. If he said we'd meet up, we'd meet up. _We had to._ He'd be fine. He could handle them._

_Despite my thoughts, a deep-seated worry and unease filled my body. The concern was killing me, helped along by the growing pain in my torso. The female, Charlotte gave me a look of empathy. She knew how I felt. I think I heard it once described as 'the mating pull'_

_My mind snapped back to when he had called me his mate. That sneaking suspicion I'd been having rushed into me full force, and I realized what exactly that connection I had with Major Jasper was._

_Mates._

_The bond between mates was the most sacred bond in our world, especially in the Wars, deemed as unbreakable and held as the most respected, stable and sure thing in a an ocean of uncertainty and paranoia._

_Being mates doesn't necessarily mean love at first sight, although that does happen in some cases. It starts with the pull, the attraction, and builds up like a normal romance, but the difference is, true mates are the perfect match for each other._

_The love is stronger, deeper, and truer than others, and lasts way longer. Mates splitting up permanently is unheard of, and deemed impossible. The pain of the separation would wear down on both parties until they either reunite instinctively, or die. If one died, the other was soon to follow, usually after their need for revenge was sated, or they died in the process._

_Even the Volturi knew not to mess with mates._

_But Maria always had a different view. Hers hadn't come along in her undoubtedly long lifetime; so many speculated in private that part of her opinion was resentment. She saw a mate as a weakness, and any mated pairs in her army were terminated, immediately._

_The only pair that had survived thus far were Peter and Charlotte, but we all knew that it was because Major Jasper had let them run. Maria seldom handled things herself. She was crazed, erratic, and power-hungry, along with so screwed up it was a wonder she'd survived and even thrived so long. Most of it was the fact that she manipulated those she turned into doing most of the work for her, and had another one kill those that started to lose loyalty. But she knew that nobody would even try to take out Major Jasper and would thus lose faith in her for sending them on what they saw as an impossible mission. Because even if they did, he'd kill them before they could even touch him._

_He was that good. And I knew it. Which was why I wasn't back there right now, with him. Major Jasper. My mate. I tried it out in my head. I thought I'd have negative feelings, but I didn't. It wasn't like I was overjoyed and squealing in my thoughts; it just seemed like something natural, a fact._

_Yes, as I felt with as much certainty that I had venom running through me, he was my mate. The fact that he'd acknowledged it, even if it had been under duress, made it cement even further into my mind._

_We had stopped, and I pulled myself out of my thoughts. The pain was horrible now, and it was all I could do to stop myself from either doubling over, or racing back. I somehow knew that he wasn't in danger, thought. I had a feeling that it would hurt a whole lot more if he was._

_I turned in the direction of the pull, resigned to the fact that I'd just have to wait and endure it. The wait is always the hardest. All my feelings came crashing into me, and as I was still technically a Newbie, they were getting to me. Combined with the pain, my mind became foggier than I'd thought possible._

_Finally, the pain began to lessen, but it was in such small increments I thought I was possibly imagining it. It was only once it had faded to a dull ache that the anticipation started building up. I was practically vibrating with positive energy, as the pain lessened faster and steadier by the second. After what seemed like eternity and a day, I finally felt the spark I'd been waiting for, and I almost jumped up and down with glee._

_I take it my face must've been showing my emotions, because Peter grinned and high-fived his mate, who rolled her eyes at his antics but was also wearing a matching smile. She looked relieved, and jumped up to plant a kiss on Peter's cheek._

_Jasper finally came into sight, wearing an expression I'd never seen before. It looked…relieved, but more than that. Hopeful. Maybe even a little happy. The sight was foreign to me, and that more than anything spoke volumes about life in the Wars._

_I locked onto that bit of happiness and let it fill me, as he neared. He pulled me into a hug, his smile widening, and I didn't even care that we only kind of knew each other, that he didn't even know my name, all my worries vanished in his arms._

_It felt warm and safe and familiar, and I felt so happy I was almost giddy_

While I savored that feeling and was glad to know of my previous life, the memory didn't exactly give me the answers I was looking for. While still submerged in my subconscious, I felt myself being moved.

They definitely weren't Jasper's arms, and I felt a little worried. I tried to reach the surface of consciousness, but found myself pulled back down.

_Quit it. Are you fucking stupid?_

Oh, great. My inner bitch was here to see me again.

_If I had eyes, I'd roll them right about…oh, now. Why don't I get a cool name this time, huh? You can't blame me for developing a bit of an attitude after this many rounds._

Wait a second. You!

_Yes, me, what about it? I got tired of being a…what was it? A panther-thing? I've evolved, blossomed, whatever you want to call it._

Skydd, I breathed. In my mind. Wow, this was surreal.

_You're telling me? And yeah, that was my name the last time around._

That's weird; I don't seem to remember you being such a smartass.

_Well, what can I say? I'm still the same ol' me, but this time I figured out how to talk._

In my head.

_That is where I live. So, duh._

Duh? So, not only do I share my thoughts with a talking imaginary panther-thing, but also it apparently will relapse into fourth grade comebacks?

_First of all, I though you remembered my name. I'm not an it, I'm a she. Skydd, remember? You're the one that picked the name. And second, I'm not imaginary. And I'm not a split personality or whatever you were thinking of. I'm very real, and separate, too. I'm a part of you, but I'm also me, you know? I help you out and stuff. I guess if it's easier to think about it as a split personality-thing where all the different personalities are aware of each other, and can watch when the other takes over and stuff is easier and won't burst that mortal brain of yours, you can do that._

Wow. Thanks, I guess. Sarcasm intended.

_Yeah, yeah, yeah. You better not wake up. You're not one with this little walk down memory lane yet._

But they're moving me. And Jasper, too, if I'm right.

_Relax; they're moving you to the room with the others. It makes your job easier._

Fine, but at least let me swim higher up so I can hear, alright.

The silence told me she gave me her permission.

"You sure about this? If they're just pretending, or they're fakes, Boss and the bitch will be mad."

"They're not fakes. They match the photos perfectly. And they're out cold, I mean look at them. Besides, if Boss gets a little disappointed, is that so bad? I mean, the guy's a bastard."

"Yeah. You sure he wants them alive?"

"Positive. Said somethin' about a score to settle, or whatever. They want them unharmed and undrugged so they can battle it our or something."

"Mental, I tell ya. They're head cases, the both of them."

"I'm not gonna disagree with ya there."

_Satisfied?_ Skydd huffed, dragging me back down.

Yeah, fine, now what?

_Do I have to help you with __**everything**__? I thought I was pretty clear._

Walk down memory lane. Sure. This can't get any weirder.

But as I lost myself in another memory from another lifetime, I had a feeling it would get weirder. Several times over.

"_PETER!" I glance at the door, then back at Char._

"_What do you think he did now?" As much as we were enjoying our talk, we knew that our mates were now going to divert our attention back to them._

"_Beats me. That vamp, sometimes I wonder about him. He should've learned by now that he just can't surprise you guys."_

"_Nah, I think he won't rest until we let him prank us, just to appease him."_

_She considered this for a moment. "Probably."_

_We looked at each other, then sighed and gave in to our curiosity. Strolling outside to find our mates, we found Pete imbedded in a tree. Char walked over to her mate and tapped her foot, arms crossed playfully._

"_I tried jumping on him from up in the tree," he groaned in response to her silent question. "Let's just say it did not go as planned."_

_I let out a peal of laughter, soon joined by my partner-in-crime. The continuous attempts Pete made to try and sneak up on Jasper were entertaining, to say the least. I walked over to my mate, and kissed him on the cheek. He looked a little exasperated, but brightened immediately as I joined him. Even though we'd passed the phase where it was painful to be just a little bit away from each other, we still felt the discomfort of being separated a little more intense than other mated couples._

_Looking at him, I remembered how lost and confused I had felt when we first escaped Maria. But I'd learned about our kind, my gifts and self, and Jasper most of all. I was so thankful that we'd ended up a family, living a nice undisturbed life. Sure we had the occasional nomad, but other than that our life was mostly drama-free, just how we liked it._

_He smiled at me and kissed his mark at the juncture where my neck, shoulder, and collarbone met gently. I saw Char fingering her own mark as she sighed melodramatically at her mate and the predicaments he got himself into._

"_Jasper? Would you mind un-sticking him in a tree?" Jasper sighed good-naturally and wrapped his hands around Pete's ankles, giving him a good tug._

"_You've gotta stop doin' that, Pete. It's not gonna work, you know." Pete just grinned and told him we'd see. Char and I exchanged looks._

_Jasper walked back to me, throwing his arm over my shoulder. "So, what were you two ladies talkin' about?"_

"_Oh, we were comparing how you two are in the sack, of course." I managed to make the lie sound like the flippant truth. "You know, techniques, performance, attentiveness, all that." The words rolled off my lips like offhanded remarks, but I glanced over to Char for some backup. The look on Peter's face was funny, but I knew we could make it hilarious._

"_Yeah, you know, Pete, I know men can't all be sensitive empaths who pay attention to a woman's needs, but seriously I didn't know how much I've been missing out. I mean, we've both heard how much Izz here enjoys it, but knowing all the dirty little details? No wonder she's more than happy to go at it every possible opportunity" Peter looked shocked._

"_Wait, what?" He seemed like he couldn't believe what he just heard. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, did you just say what I think you did, woman?"_

"_Yes, Pete. Empaths apparently do it better." Char crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, but the spark in her eye went un-noticed by a gaping Pete._

_Jasper had caught on quickly, our devious emotions probably alerting him. He was now shaking with silent laughter besides me, trying to keep a poker face._

"_I-you-what? I can't believe you even-wha-I do not-huh?" Hearing her mate flabbergasted, Char cracked, bursting into laughter. Jasper threw back his head and joined in, and I barely managed to speak through fits of humor._

"_You really thought that's what we talk about? And your face-oh, god, priceless!" By now Char and I were hanging off of each other. Jasper was spreading the feel-good juju around, so even Pete cracked a smile, then eventually caved and started laughing._

Okay, well as entertaining as that was, it wasn't exactly informative. Sure, we all make nice and Maria is in the past, but why is it important for me to see this?

_The good part was coming up! No patience at all, you._

Fine, fine. Let's keep going.

_Suddenly, we cut off our laughing, Jasper and I being first. I tilted my head to my right, concentrating. A male and female were approaching. Wary glances all around. Friendly or hostile?_

_Jasper led our group as the leader of our coven, officially. He was after all the God of War. We approached the invisible line that marked our territory, and waited. As the two approached, we stood completely still, me at Jasper's side just slightly behind him, and Pete and Char flanking us._

_As they neared, the male and female put their hands up in the human gesture for surrender. We allowed them to stop in front of us, and immediately became curious about their golden eyes._

"_This is our territory." Jasper stated, outright._

"_Yes, we know, and we mean you no harm. We simply want to talk." The male spoke, his voice placating and steadily calm._

_Jasper paused, probably carefully scanning their emotions. I felt for sparks, and found none, although it seemed the male had a talent for diplomatic behavior. Not a real gift, per say, but just a knack._

_My mate turned his head just slightly, glancing at me in his peripherals but never taking his eyes off the potential enemy. He blinked once, signaling that he felt no ill will coming off of them. I copied the action to show that neither had a gift. I saw Char tapping ever so slightly on her thigh. It was an 'm' in Morse code. This was to show that she saw their bond as that of mates. Pete shifted his weight slightly to one side. He didn't feel any funny business with his freaky intuition, either._

_Jasper twitched his fingers on his right hand to show he'd understood. Sizing them up for one more moment, he broke the silence. "Well, talk."_

_The male looked relieved, and bowed his head slightly. "Thank you. My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is my mate, Esme. We've heard about four, and think that you may be in the center of a legend or two. We thought you might want to know…" He paused, as if unsure whether or not to go on._

"_We would like to know anything that may pertain to us," Jasper prodded._

"_Yes, well…I would like to tell you. I must warn you, I may be wrong in thinking that it does in fact have anything to do with you. However, if it does, and I'm quite certain it will, you'll know."_

_I decided that these vampires seemed a little uncomfortable. We were still giving off a hostile vibe, and they seemed accustomed to humans, as they would shift their weight, blink, and fidget unnecessarily every so often. So I slapped a smile on my face and stepped forward, ignoring Jasper's soft warning growl. "Why don't we talk closer to our home, I think we'll all be more comfortable there."_

_The female, Esme smiled softly, and graciously accepted. We let them walk in front of us, as there was no way we'd be turning our backs on them and inviting attack. They could easily follow our scents to the house, anyway._

"_We don't know if they really don't pose a threat," Jasper hissed at me, in a tone they couldn't hear._

"_None of our gifts flagged them, and besides, we've heard of Carlisle Cullen. He's the veggie vamp, remember? He's peaceful."_

"_He's right, they could be lying about who they are." Pete decided to put his two cents in._

_Char was on my side, though. "Didn't you see the yellow eyes? You can't fake that. From what we know, they're telling the truth."_

"_Yeah, and you would've felt any deceit, Jasper. They don't have any scars apart from their mating marks, and it doesn't seem like they've been in many if any fights. We could take them easily if they try to trick us." Jasper sighed, seeing my point._

"_Fine. But if they start to seem fishy, we kill them, agreed?" We all agreed. _

_As soon as we got to the house, we led them to the backyard. I may have invited them here, but they were still strangers and I wasn't going to even think about letting them inside our actual house. "So, what was it you needed to tell us?"_

_Carlisle glanced at his mate and then back at us. "I only ask that you hear me out before making a final judgment." We didn't nod but we didn't refuse, either. He nodded slightly, as if he had expected that._

"_To tell you what I know, I have to tell you a little about my story. I was turned in London, where I'd grown up. I won't bore you with the details, but I managed to discover how to survive off animals. A while after that, I was studying in Italy and came across the Volturi. I didn't agree with many of the things they did, but they were more civilized, in a way, that many of the other vampires I'd come across. So I stayed with them for a while, pretending I didn't know the horrors they inflicted._

_I tried my best to gather evidence, but I soon realized it was a futile attempt. I alone couldn't bring down the Volturi, and most of our kind know how unjust they are, anyhow. They're just too scared to do anything about it, and have accepted that this is the way things are. I'm sorry. I got a little ahead of myself. Let me explain how this has to do with you._

_During my time there, I met a woman, a human that the Volturi seemed very interested in. She was a seer. They wanted to turn her, as they believed she would be a very important asset. She didn't want that life, though, and she had managed to delay her changing for half a year. She and I became secret friends, until one day when I had heard that Aro, one of the three leaders, was getting fed up and impatient. She would be changed in under a week. When I told her this, she told me she already knew. She'd seen it, and she gave me a journal. In it, I found some of her visions. They all centered on a particular group of people._

_If I understand them correctly, then you are a part of that particular group." He looked around at us, and reached into a bag he was carrying. He pulled out a leather book that looked worn but well cared for. Jasper took it, curious but wary. _

_Opening it so that we could all see, we quickly read through them. Our eyes widened as we saw what they had said. The similarities were astounding, the descriptions and actions really did seem to match us. There were a few that were circled, though, and they confused us._

_One in particular stood out. It said something about reincarnations, saying that we would be reborn again and again until we all grouped together. It mentioned four others who we didn't recognize. Two females and two males. It said that we'd take down the Volturi._

_I was shocked. Taking down the Volturi had been the furthest thing from our minds. We lived a simple life, and we liked it that way. Well, most of the time. Skydd had been restless, itching for a fight or a challenge, but I had always suppressed the feeling. I didn't need the drama._

_Then, something weird happened. As we read through descriptions of previous lives, an odd feeling of recognition surged through us. I could tell that Char, Pete, and Jasper felt it too, by the unnecessary shifting they were doing. A glance at Jas told me it wasn't his doing. I would usually assume it was Carlisle or Esme, but they didn't have any gifts._

_Suddenly, a flash went off in my head. Memories that I was certain didn't belong to me started surging in my head. I was thankful I had the brain of a vampire, or else I would surely have passed out from sensory overload. The gasps next to me told me I wasn't alone in this strange development._

_They seemed genuine, and real. The odd thing was that there was no way they'd happened, at least in my lifetime. I glanced down at the book, wondering if there was a way this was all true. These new memories certainly went along with the words written in there. But how was it possible?_

_Again, if not for the fact that they clearly weren't behind this from the looks of shock on their faces, I would've suspected the strange new couple. But as we groaned, holding our heads, they looked truly baffled. They tried to approach, as if to help us, but my physical shield had automatically gone up to protect us as we had a moment of vulnerability._

_Then, as suddenly as it came, it stopped. My shield slowly dissolved, as we looked around the room in confusion._

Okay, so a little more information. But what-

The feeling of sudden cold on my face cut off my thoughts. I was startled out of the depths of my mind, eyes snapping open too soon. Skydd hissed at the back of my mind, and I quickly took in my surroundings. I was in a small, dank room, tied to a chair. My friends and Jasper were all next to me, eyes darting around the room, or blinking in confusion.

**AN/: So, I'm stopping it there, as this chapter is already 20 pages in Word, and I do want to post it sometime. Yeah. Okay, this author's note is kind of unnecessary. I don't even know why I'm still typing. I should probably stop now.**


	25. Escape

**Chapter 25: Escape**

Drops of water dripped down my face and onto my shirt. That, coupled with the buckets our captors were holding, made it pretty clear what they'd done.

I was still a little more disoriented than I would have liked, what with being so rudely disrupted from my crazy-weird walk down memory lane of sorts. I shook my head in an attempt to regain my thoughts, and found that something was different about my regular consciousness. I had a slight headache, but that wasn't all. That was normal. The other thing wasn't.

It almost felt like there were added compartments in the back of my head. Or like they had always been there and had just been unlocked. They felt filled, but dark and cobwebbed, and I could've taken the time to dig deeper, but I didn't have that time. I dismissed it, but filed it away for later musing. I had to get back on focus. I took a deep breath and took in our captors.

I assessed them. One was tall and lanky, although not quite as tall as Jasper, or as built. The other was also skinny, but had a quite scrawny look to him. He was shorter, and shifted around on his feet.

Both of them had expressions of apathy, but I could detect traces of sorrow, maybe pity or regret. They were most likely part of James' little gang. Most of the members were only with him because of blackmail, or the threats he made. While this was common knowledge, he liked to pretend that they were loyal to him willingly.

However, if we could find a way to use that little fact to our advantage, we could keep this from turning into a bloodbath. More like a covert operation and less like an all-out clash.

I saw a switchblade, cheap and seldom used, on the taller one, and a gun on the scrawny guy. I thought back to anything at all I'd picked up on deduction and tried to focus all that on these two goons. I didn't get a clear glimpse of their weapons, so the specifics weren't available to me. The gun looked like a pistol, probably off the black market. And if it was, then all identifying marks were probably filed off.

My friends knew who was behind this, and could get the police involved as a plan D. James and Victoria were only really concerned with them as bait. They were obsessed with only me, as well as Jasper. What that meant for my friends put a icy fist in my gut. I only got a glance, so I couldn't clearly see what exact make or model it was. He also had a burner cell, most likely to keep in touch with James. Must be their means of communication, so they could hear his orders and check in. The one with the switchblade was wearing a dark green parka, the kind you see for pennies at the back of thrift stores. As a matter of fact, all their clothing looked worn and inexpensive. That was to be expected and certainly fit the profile of James' little gang. Mr. Switchblade was African American and had a cigarette burn on his left hand and callouses on both.

Mr. Gun was Caucasian, had one light blue eye and one a bit darker blue. He looked to be a bit older, and maybe the one in command out of the two. Probably why he got a gun, too. He had dirt stains on his hands, but they didn't have a lot of built up callouses like Mr. S. They set down their buckets and left the room, leaving just us in the dim room.

I stared at my friends. They seemed fine. A little disoriented or groggy, but there were no obvious physical injuries. I would've asked them a lot more questions, but the tape wound several times over my mouth (so stereotypical) made it hard to do just that. We were in a kind of semi-circle formation, backs a few feet from the wall facing the entrance.

Jasper was on my right, and we looked at each other. From the looks of it, he'd been buried in his mind as well, because I'd definitely felt a link of some sort while unconscious. Kind of a hum at the back of my mind, that felt inexplicably like Jasper. Which was weird enough, but lately I'd seemed to have grown used to weird. No time to think about that. How to escape? Remember, this is life or death, and you have to keep your friends safe.

I analyzed our bonds, testing the strength of the rope and the knots. I saw Jasper doing the same beside me, and the others starting to struggle blindly against the rope. I refocused on my escape.

My hands were tied behind the back of the chair, and I could wiggle them, but not enough to release them. Mistakenly, though, they hadn't tied my hands to the actual chair. I slowly moved them up the back of the chair, hoping that the back of it wasn't too tall. I felt the top edge, and breathed a sigh of relief. Leaning forward as much as the duck tape around my waist could allow, I slid them just a bit further. I ignored the protest my joints were giving me, and slipped my hands off the chair's back.

I shoved my hands behind my back, forcing the duck tape to dig into my torso. I then maneuvered them so I could reach the edge of said tape. I fumbled with it until I had a good amount unstuck, and then tried my best to unwrap it. I was partially successful, so I tried my luck with forcing the rest of it off. I lunged forward with my upper body. No change. So I tried again, and this time, it came off.

It was still stuck to my shirt, but I didn't care about that, focusing on getting the knife out of my bra. I was thankful they hadn't taken it. I could feel that they'd searched me and taken the majority of my weapons, but from the weapons I could still feel hidden away, they hadn't ventured into my private areas. That was something to be grateful for. I saw no choice but to lean forward a bit and push my breasts together, so that it dropped out of the bottom. It felt incredibly awkward. I knew I looked ridiculous, too, as the others were giving me weird looks, but I succeeded. It dropped onto the floor with a small clang. I scooted the chair forward, wincing every time it made a sound. But I kept going, and eventually, I had it in a good enough position to be able to reach my knife.

I strained myself, a surge of adrenaline rushing through me when the tips of my fingers brushed against the handle. Fumbling somewhat desperately, I managed to grasp it, the cold, hard feeling reassuring and familiar on my palm.

I quickly but awkwardly cut the binding on my hands, and the rest was easy going from there. After all, opposable thumbs are one big perk to being a human being. I ripped the duck tape holding my thighs to the seat of the chair off, and started working on the rope securing my ankles to the legs of the chair.

As soon as I was free, I yanked the tape off my mouth, ignoring the stinging, and rushed over to Jasper to help him the rest of the way out of the bindings. He'd gotten his torso and lower body free, so I just had to free his hands. I sped around to our friends, releasing them, as Jasper pulled a knife similar to mine out of his boot and one out of his waistband…or rather, it seemed he had hidden it there, but it had been jostled and fallen lower… and helped.

I guessed the guys didn't want to go anywhere near another man's happy trail. And as for the boot thing, well that was just sloppy.

_Shame for them, damn lucky for us, huh?_

Hello, my personal narrator.

_Oh, please, don't be silly. Call me Skydd._

I wasn't aware that voices in your head could talk in accents.

_Yeah, well, I'm not just a voice. I'm a part of your gift._

My what? You mean that thing that…I…used in the Newborn Wars?

_I'm supposed to keep you safe. So, don't worry I'm not crazy. Your gift, it's hard to explain but…well I'll tell you more when you manage to get out of this place. You do have a plan of some sort, don't you?_

Bits and pieces. Mostly just wing it.

_Great. Try not to get us killed _again_ will you? I'd like to get a break from all the awkward-first-parts where you have no clue about your true self._

Okay, sure. Just shut up for a while and let me concentrate on reality, as in right now reality, will you?

_Sure, sure, sure. You'd better hurry it up before they come back._

I couldn't hear anybody coming back yet, but I didn't waste any time, rushing as I cut through their bonds. Once they were free I hurried over to the opposite wall. There was a small rectangular opening in the concrete wall that served as a window, but there was a scratched up sheet of either glass or plexiglass.

The window would be just big enough for a very slim person to slip through it. Most likely Alice. Hello, possible means of escape. I smashed my knife handle against it with enough force to shatter it had it been glass, but it didn't give way. Instead, the force was dispersed along the surface of it.

"Just great," I sighed in frustration, "Plexiglass."

Jasper squinted at it, then hefted one of the plastic and metal chairs and slammed a leg into it. It scratched it a bit, but it wasn't too promising. If we didn't find a way to enforce more damage, James' people would come looking for the source of the noise. It seemed too thick to outright break without generating too much sound. We weren't exactly that well equipped either.

I listened hard, but didn't hear anybody heading this way. They probably figured we were trying to get out of our bonds and banging the chairs against the floor or something. Or maybe they felt sorry for us, or maybe they were just simply lazy. Whichever it was, I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, as the old saying goes.

I stood on the chair to examine it more closely. It was old, cloudy, and scratched up but still seemed near impossible to break in our circumstances. Instead, I looked at the glue. It was a different type than the kind I saw on other plexiglass windows. Even taking into account its possible old age, it didn't look right. It was in pretty bad shape. It looked like it had been shoddily, wrongly, and poorly done when the window was new, and since then it'd only gotten worse thanks to the elements. Maybe…I used the tip of my knife to start chipping away at it. I found that this method might just actually work.

Gesturing Jasper over to help, we got to work digging at the glue. We were working as covertly but swiftly as possible, our friends gathering behind us to try to help however they could. They picked at any of the looser pieces and stuff like that, aiding in our only possible way out.

After we had one side completed, I heard the sound of footsteps down the hall. One was slightly off, like the owner favored his left side but tried to hide it. Most likely some type of old injury or physical defect he kept to himself. I recognized it from earlier, the scrawny one. I glanced at Jasper to confirm, and we both hurried over and directed our friends to their chairs. We tried our best to make it look like we hadn't been able to get ourselves out, using the cut duck tape, overlapped slightly, as makeshift fake bonds. It wouldn't hold up under scrutiny, but hopefully they wouldn't notice. Then we ran into a problem.

The bonds would be hard to fake without someone helping you, but one of us would have to go last. The footsteps were approaching louder now, nearing our end of a seemingly long hallway or corridor. I shoved Jasper into his chair, arranging the fallen tape on him, and then sat down in my chair just as they started to open the door. I started shifting, then pretended like I had just broken free as they entered the room. Still acting, I looked at them wide eyed in surprise, and then re-drew my knife. They acted on instinct, moving back several paces. I sped across the room and drew the gun from the tall one's belt before he could get to it. I also disarmed the shorter one with the bad right leg, tossing his switchblade in Jasper's direction. Holding the gun steadily, I hid my knife back in my bra. I then used my other hand to steady the weapon, gesturing with it towards the door. They got the message, slowly raising their hands and making their way into the room. I shut the door behind us.

"Well, that went better than I thought," I muttered to myself. Using the gun, I forced the two guys into the seats vacated by Jasper and I. The others crowded behind me, easily breaking free of the ruse. Still directing the gun straight at them, I silently nodded towards them. Jas, with our nonverbal communication awesomely efficient, went over to search them for weapons. While he didn't molest or grope them, he did make sure not to make the same mistake they had with him.

I hid a smile. They certainly weren't rookies like the Unnamed Henchman who'd been sent on a failed-from-the-start mission to spy on us. It should take more than some movie-style intimidation with them, and I was itching with revenge for the taking of my pseudo-family.

I knew that I should hold back since they clearly weren't willing participators in James' little game. He was the one responsible. But right now we had the upper hand and I was going to see just how much of an advantage we could use it to.

And if that meant a little torture, well, I had some very creative ideas. I _was_ an angst-riddled teenager with a shrink's wet dream for a mind, you know. The perks of being through some traumatic experiences, and having multiple lives for as long as you remember is some great inspiration. After all, I'm sure there are plenty of memories of torture at some point. I seemed to have had a lot of past lives, and chance was I had plenty of material to go on.

This should be fun.

**AN/: So, a bit shorter. But it's the middle of the night and even though I have school tomorrow, I stayed up typing this so that I'd get to where I wanted to, updates-wise. That's gotta count for something, right? Yay. I should probably got to sleep now, since my cough's still really bad. Yeah. Okay.**

**Oh, before I forget, I did some major reorganizing of my previous chapters. No major changes in the story so you don't need to go back and reread it or anything. Just some tidying up on my end. The reason I'm typing it here is because I want to be sure I didn't screw it up, so if you happen to notice I put some text where it didn't belong or messed up some chapters, please let me know.**

**Okay, I'm off to sleep for real this time. Thanks, and uh, yeah. I need to get to slumber-ville before I really start to embarrass myself with my tired mind.**


	26. Aftermath

**Chapter 26: Aftermath**

Jasper came up with two needles, filled with some kind of drug. Since there were two and I'd heard James didn't want Jasper or I drugged, I felt safe assuming that half of each was meant for my friends. My expression darkened just a bit, but I fought to stay on top of my emotions. I'd have time to express them later.

"Listen," I stated, stuffing the gun into the back of my waistband, "I can either be your friend, or your worst nightmare. Which will it be?"

I'd heard that most police interrogations got further by kind of becoming a therapy session, where the cops pretended to have a lot in common with the suspect. On the other hand, most criminal organizations swore by torture.

I let them mull over that for a while, knowing that they had no hope of escape. I signaled for Jasper to follow me, walking just out of earshot. If we had to resort to extreme tactics, I wasn't sure the others could handle it. As much as I wanted to release my anger onto these two guys, they weren't doing this of their own free will, they probably didn't know all that much, and I hoped I didn't have to expose my friends to the darker side of the world.

Most street fighters fought more in a boxing-style, but I was effective because I incorporated bits and pieces of different fighting styles. I threw them off, because I did what they weren't expecting. One of the reasons it was great to have Jasper, was because we really related. Not only because we were both fighters, but also because he was much the same, as far as doing the unexpected in a fight was concerned.

That reminded me of something that I couldn't believe I forgot. Edward and his mojo! I turned towards Jasper, to whisper-debate whether or not we should ask Edward to read their minds. It would be a lot quicker; I mean they certainly wouldn't be expecting that. We'd just have to ask them the right questions, and hope he didn't get sidetracked. If that failed, we could always break our friends out first, and come back to interrogate them a different way. We had to end this, because otherwise James and Victoria would keep on coming after us, and while my friends had basic training, they couldn't take on that many opponents at once. I could try to protect them, but it wasn't realistic to be with them all the time, as earlier today had evidenced.

Jasper and I agreed, and after basking in each other's presence in a brief moment of calm, I motioned for Edward to join us. He did, looking at us like he was concentrating particularly hard. I remembered that he could only read minds within a slightly larger than hearing range, and he'd always found mine silent and Jasper's quieter than usual. His look of confirmation as he drew closer told me he'd lifted the plan from Jasper's thoughts. Jasper had seemed as if he was shouting the thoughts, so I guessed that helped, too.

"I hate to ask you, Edward," I started off, knowing how much he tried to keep out of others' minds, to give them their privacy.

"But desperate circumstances call for desperate measures, and this would be more efficient and safe for everyone involved. I already tuned in to their thoughts. I want to help us any way I can." He spoke with determination, and he then proceeded to share that I was right in thinking that these guys weren't here of their own will. One of them, the one who'd had the gun, had a girlfriend and a son, who were being kept hostage. The other had all other options for making money eliminated by James framing him for something, and had his elderly grandparents to feed.

I nodded, directing more of my anger to James and Victoria, who had started this in the first place.

We rejoined the group, who had been watching our two captors. I glanced at all their faces, scared, nervous, worried, but determined; and I knew I had to make sure they were safe at all costs.

_Very noble, Izzy. Slow clap for you. Remember, after all this is over, you still have bigger mountains to climb._

I thought you were going to leave me alone.

_No need to sound so hostile. I'm here to help, I just find that having an attitude lightens things up a bit, you know._

Yeah, I guess.

_You see? There we go. Now I'll really will leave you alone for a while so you can conquer this foe first._

Thanks. And I'm glad to see that while you may have comebacks like a fourth grader, your vocabulary, at least, has advanced.

Silence. So, she really will leave me alone for now. Great, now I can get focused and back on track. I studied the two men shifting nervously in front of me. I knew that my stare was probably making them uncomfortable, but I didn't really care. I was working them out in my mind, trying to see the best approach. Sure, Edward could read their thoughts, but I had to make sure to put them in a situation where they were thinking what we wanted to know. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, you could say.

They wouldn't have any reason to lie in their thoughts, it's not like they would be expecting Edward to be a mind reader. But James could've lied to them. So, we couldn't rely on their information religiously, but at least we'd be in the right direction. The problem was we didn't know how much they knew, so while Edward could get bits and pieces, we needed the whole.

I could do my best, but there were ultimately no guarantees. Really, all we could've ever hoped for was to get some partially reliable information. The need for torture was really now void, so maybe I should go more for the relatable cop interrogation.

"I bet you aren't working for James of your own free will. We all know how much of a bastard he can be," I tried, thinking back to the glimpse of conversation I'd caught while being moved here.

The tall one, the one who wasn't the leader, judging by the fact he had only had a switchblade while the other one had a gun, shifted more uncomfortably in his seat.

"Relax, I'm not going to do anything to you." They didn't look very reassured. "I'm actually a little offended. What, do you think I'm like James? I wouldn't be like him if my life depended on it." The tall one glanced at me, then back down at the floor. He seemed a bit younger, maybe newer to the little gang. He was probably my best bet, as the other had his family to think about, and a little more experience.

"Listen, I'm going to be honest with you. I'd very much like to take out some of my anger on you two right now," I continued, But I won't I had a very good friend who was forced by James to join his gang. They were holding his relatives hostage." The tall one glanced up at me again. "He felt like he was responsible for them, so he did what James told him to do, even though he had a bad feeling they'd already died. He lied to get my friend to do what he wanted. So, you see, I know how he does it. He goes after the people who are most important in your life." I briefly looked at my friends, then back at the two, crouching down in front of them to be more at eye level even though I really didn't like being physically below them. "I mean, he didn't try to kidnap me or Jasper, the ones he's really after. He kidnapped my only and best friends in the world. They're like bona fide family to me, and you can understand why I would want to keep them safe at all costs, can't you?"

They exchanged glances, and looked a little more understanding, although still wary. Good. I was making progress.

"All I need to know is his plans for us. That's all, and I'll let you go free to escape with your loved ones, I swear. I'm on your side here. Think about it, we have a chance to make him pay for threatening the lives of the ones we hold dear. And I know you're scared for their lives, but James won't ever be stopped unless we are brave enough to do something. We have to stop him or more people will be in a situation like ours, am I right? So, all you have to do is tell him what we have planned for us, and we'll all be free from him." I used all my best persuasive skills, staring earnestly into their eyes. They didn't speak up, but they didn't look away, either.

I glanced at Edward who shook his head. Okay, we need more. I laid a hand on the arm of the tall one, but made sure to maintain eye contact with both of them so as not to make the older one feel isolated. He didn't shake me off, so I was hopeful. "Please, just confide in us. I wouldn't misguide you. I've always just wanted to make sure that snide son of a bitch doesn't feel pride over doing something like this to any one else ever again. Do we really want him to possibly go nationwide? Because we know that with him and Victoria side by side, they won't ever stop. They're power hungry and delusional, and cruel. So we can't let what he did to us and our families slide." I pleaded with my eyes for them to listen, and the tall one opened his mouth to reply.

"You're right. He can't do this to any one else and get away with it." The other guy glanced worriedly at his friend, but didn't say anything to stop him. After a beat, during which he seemed to gather his courage, he resumed.

"James told us to get the ones in the first four pictures and wait for the other two to show up. He told us that you'd show, but he didn't say anything about you being knocked out. He said not to touch you two, just make sure you stick around until he gets here. He gave us those syringes, and we were coming here to do what he said, inject the other four. That's it, I swear." When Edward nodded to confirm, I got up.

"Thank you. I'm going to let you go now, and I hope you run as fast as you can. Get back to your families, and make sure you all stay safe, okay?" I stepped back and let them go to the door, watching as they started jogging and didn't look back.

I felt emotionally exhausted, and a little numb. The others began to group together, seeking comfort in the arms of each other as we sat in the eye of the storm.

The truth was, after the last 48 hours, I felt like emotional rollercoaster didn't even begin to describe how I'd felt. I'd always thought I was more mature than my age, but recently I felt like I'd aged years and years. I was tired, even if physically I was only a little worse for wear. Having my worst fear happen, my friends being kidnapped. Then finding out Jake was alive, having him forgive me for something that happened a while ago, something I'd carried the guilt for ever since. After which, I'd raced over to rescue my friends only to be knocked out and figure out more about my freakiness, then get abducted by At least I'd had Jasper.

Jasper, somehow sensing my feelings, came over and rubbed my shoulder. "Hey. Great job, convincing them. It's almost over, you know, and then maybe we can be normal again." We both knew he was lying, what with the other weirdness that had been going on. But it felt nice. And so I let myself believe for a few seconds that he was right, and everything would return to normal before long.

I leaned into him, and he rested his head on top of mine. I drew strength from being there with him; letting that calming and peaceful feeling of safety I always felt from contact with him seep into my body. I was so grateful for all of them, which was why I was even more scared that they'd be taken away or harm would come to them, and it would all be my fault.

"Hey, it's not either of our faults. It's James and Victoria's. We've got to remember that, okay?" I smiled softly, loving that he always seemed to know what I was thinking. Loving that he knew what to say to make me feel better and that he cared enough to say it.

"Thank you, Jasper. You're right. James and Victoria are to blame. I'm just being all self-deprecating and selfish again. Are you okay?" I hung onto him, hoping that he was as fine as he seemed. I knew he was very adaptable, very stable and calm, emotionally and mentally, but all the weirdness had to have affected him too.

"I will be when we get another second to breathe. I stopped using my head and let it all go as far as the weirdness goes, a while ago. You understand what I mean when I say we can't give up, right?" I nodded in his embrace, letting myself be just myself, without the walls and toughness. I reached up and kissed him, thanking him without words for being him. Everything right for me, and what we should all hope to be someday.

Everyone needs inspiration, and he was mine, along with our pseudo-family. They were why I needed to be fighter-me for the rest of this ordeal. I could let myself be vulnerable and carefree with them, and that was what I needed to fight for.

We broke apart, rejoining the rest of the group. A strong feeling of unity was present in that room, as we made eye contact around the circle. I was so glad they were willing to be here when they could've just walked away and had nothing to do with this. Instead, they'd trained to try and help us, and put themselves through what was commonly accepted as a traumatic experience. For us.

The unspoken words reached their intended recipients all the same, as we gravitated even closer together. My chest swelled with pride, gratefulness, and love. Some might call this me going soft, but I was more than happy to, if this is what I got in return.

I would die for each and every one of them. That was something I'd almost never felt before.

If anything good came out of this, it was that knowledge. The loyalty and strengthening of the bonds we felt between us, weaving back and forth like the most beautiful tapestry I'd ever seen. I felt a deep, burning sense of…something I couldn't name, that brought the tingling to the back of my eyes. I hadn't cried in forever, but if there ever was a time I'd cry out of happiness it'd be now.

And that thought, more than the others, reaffirmed my determination to make sure James and Victoria wouldn't be a threat to anyone I cared about anymore.

So, we stood, as a united front, waiting for the eye of the storm to pass over. James was coming here expecting us divided: four of us drugged and unable to fight, and two of us who were barely competent. The fact that he'd left only two guys here confirmed his underestimations of us. More likely, it showed just how much he thought of himself.

He always did have an inflated ego. Maybe even narcissism. That would make sense.

We stayed that way while we heard people approaching, one pair of sharp, short footsteps belonging to a female in heels, most likely Victoria. Heels, really? While she's expecting to fight me? She obviously thinks highly of herself too. James and Victoria really are perfect for each other. Maybe that's why they still have a twisted sort of relationship, even though they both routinely carry on brief relationships with others.

The others were heavier footsteps, one belonging to James, probably the one who was entirely in synch with Victoria's. That meant that the remaining eight pairs belonged to henchmen he brought with him. At least he wasn't _too_ stupid.

We didn't move an inch when they barged in, the ones in front being James' goons, as I thought. James, his pointed face drawn up in a smirk, was just behind him, and the flash of fiery red hair meant Victoria was by his side. Seeing the absence of drugs in my friends' systems and the two who were supposed to administer them, his smirk turned into an enraged scowl, as he commanded the eight to knock my friends out and restrain Jasper and I.

I fought the impulse to roll my eyes at him, as I easily took down the closest guy to me. Edward, Alice, Emmett, and Rose all got the chance to put their training to use, each helping each other, and taking down one each. I felt proud as I saw them use the moves we'd taught them to make sure they were unconscious. Jasper quickly knocked out the two who made to grab him, and I took on the last one. He grabbed onto my foot after he went down, intending to make me lose my balance, but I knocked him out before he had the chance.

Knocking someone out takes a lot more force and finesse than the movies would have you believe, especially if you don't want them to die accidentally. Which was why I was so glad that my 'pupils' had done it correctly on their first actual real world try.

I composed myself, straightening my clothes and kicking the guy's hand from my foot. I took a moment to breathe, before turning to face the asshole we call James.

"I heard you've been missing us." I said offhandedly, and way more cool and casual than I felt. As if everything crazy that happened recently hadn't. Wow. Time flies by when you're in danger.

He looked surprised and a little worried that a) we'd taken them down so fast and effortlessly, b) my friends could fight, and c) maybe Jasper and I weren't as bad as he'd thought. Again, I fought an eye roll. He quickly composed himself, though, and the smirk was back. I wanted to kick it from his face. Maybe a few teeth, as well. And possibly castrate him, too, for good measure. Yeah. That'd be nice.

"Oh, really? I will admit that I feel that something is missing without your spitfire ways, Izzy. After Vicky here is done with you, maybe we can find a better use for that fiery little mouth of yours, eh?" I was disgusted. The most disgusted I'd probably ever felt in my life. And I could tell it showed on my face, too, because he chuckled. And that made me want to hurt him even more. "Oh, come on now, you'll be feeling differently very soon, I assure you." I felt like puking. Actually, physically, retching.

Jasper looked like he was going to kill the sack of shit. I laid a discreet hand on his back to calm him down.

"In your dreams, James. Probably not even then." He brushed me off, glaring at Jasper now.

"As for you, cheating son of a bitch, Vicky has requested I leave you alive. But I will make you wish you weren't." Jasper made a soft noise that sounded like a scoff. I agreed with him there. James was no match for Jasper in any resemblance of a fair fight. Jasper fought like a demon from hell, a whirlwind, with his unorthodox style that matched mine and generally caused mass panic. I mean, even just looking at him generally, his expression told you, _however good you think you are, I'm better. That's a promise._ After remembering his previous lives, nothing in the mortal world probably scared him much anymore. He was the most powerful guy I'd ever met, in all my lives and in this one. Besides, I know I'd certainly picked up some almost-long-forgotten fighting styles that nobody used anymore in my memories that I was itching to try out, and I'd bet anything that he had too.

Victoria spoke up for the first time, her voice a bit nasal and way too high-pitched for my liking. Not that her voice sounded like Lauren's, but it was sugary-sweet, like a little girl's when she was clearly…not. It just didn't belong, sounding kind of demented, and the contrast was glaringly obvious. "Oh, but James, make sure he's still functional. I don't like my toys broken, and I have plans for this one."

I wrinkled my nose in disgust, as Jasper just looked a little weirded out. Not that anybody else would be able to tell, I mean his face was blank stone to anyone who didn't know him well. I myself was lucky enough to be an exception, so I suddenly found the situation a little funny, however inappropriately. Kind of like suddenly feeling the urge to chuckle when you're at a funeral.

I'd learned to read people pretty well, I mean sometimes that was the difference between life and death. It was an important tool, but could also make boring parts of the day more hilarious. So, I had plenty of experience with inappropriately funny situations.

But now that skill was coming into handy as I assessed James and Victoria. They really _were_ under the illusion that they were the best. They also were still in that highly dysfunctional relationship with each other, yet they were somehow obsessed with Jasper and I. Maybe because we were the only ones who'd stand up to them. Or beat them, even knowing that they'd probably come after us someday. Which was probably just a little stupid on both our parts, but oh well. The past was the past, although clearly that wasn't true for these two people who clearly needed to get some kind of help. They obviously had issues. Lots of them.

"Well, we're here. You can do what you set out to do in the first place, get a rematch. There's really no need for everyone else to be here too, is there?" I needed to make sure as many of the most important people in my life were safe as possible. If I had my way, we'd all be far away from here, or at the very least everyone but me. But right now we had to play along with James and Victoria, at least until we could stop them for good.

"Hmm, I don't know, James. They're good insurance, don't you think?" My anger instantly flared as Victoria's high voice reached my ears. I swear I'd have a cavity soon.

James smiled at her, and turned back to us. I knew that however whacked their relationship was, they still listened to each other's opinions. So I glanced at Jasper, who nodded reluctantly, and took some drastic measures.

I am ashamed to admit that I went up to him and tried my best to seduce him, looking up at him through my eyelashes, fiddling with my hair, touching his chest, everything. I tried my best to sound sexy as I made my pitch. "Oh, come on, please, James? It would make me _so_ _very_ happy… and then I might want to make you feel happy…I mean it's only fair… you'd like to feel happy, right? Wouldn't you want me to make you feel good?" I tried my best to conceal the awkwardness and disgust I felt. I hadn't exactly tried to seduce anybody ever before, so I was mostly winging it and hoping I didn't crash and burn. I also was trying not to barf as I slid my hand down James' chest, batting my eyelashes, of all things. This was among the things that I'd rather do almost anything else to avoid.

But if I had to do this to make sure my friends were safe, I would.

James seemed to fall for it, eyes hooding with lust. Again, with the strong urge to gag. He nodded, gesturing towards my friends. He stepped aside, allowing them to leave. Reluctantly, with many looks back at us, they did. I saw Jasper discreetly pass on a message to his brother, as Edward was the last to leave. I managed to distract James with giggling and generally acting like the complete opposite of myself. Victoria was too busy glaring at me and trying her best to look intimidating to notice.

As soon as my friends were out of sight, I waited a bit longer to give them a good head start before dropping the charade. I couldn't completely flip character, in case he got mad and sent people after them, so I acted like I was reluctant to leave James' side when really I wanted nothing more. Jasper knew that I was faking, but he was still levying James with a stormy look that would've made any sane person back off. Me? I wanted to lick his clenched jaw. Did that make me insane? Possibly, but I've already got a voice in my head and possible multiple past lives in there too. The train to Crazy town has already long since left the station. As soon as I got back to his side, I started rubbing small circles on the back of his clenched hand, out of sight of James. I knew how angry I'd be at Victoria if Jasper had to be in my shoes…the very thought almost made me dart across the room and rip off her head.

Wait, what? Since when can humans rip off each other's heads? Huh. I guess being a vampire in your past life can really screw up your perspective when you remember it.

My multiple frames of mind were meshing together, but in the process my thoughts were becoming a little detached from reality. I guess it has to get worse before it gets better, huh? That rainbow fog really does a number on your so-called 'sanity'…I swear, I could feel a low growl coming from Jasper. Also, the fact that it was making me really horny could not be normal.

_It's a messy process. People are mostly a sum of all the different experiences they had. Adding a bunch more from different lives can go two ways. Either they all remain separate and drive you crazy or they start to knit together into one. You've noticed that since you've met your friends, your frame of mind is slightly different? Well, that process is just going to speed up. In the meantime, you're going to notice weird and new thought processes…like wanting to rip someone's head off or slightly vampiric behavior while still human._

Well, thank you for that mini-lesson, Skydd.

_You're very welcome. Now you should probably get back to the threat at hand…I do _not_ want to have to o through this whole process again if you die._

Okay, okay. Geesh. Geesh? Really? This is going to take some getting used to…concentrate, Izzy! Alright. Take a moment to collect yourself. I forced my loopy frame of mind to more closely resemble my fighter state. Feeling more on top of things, I focused on Jasper, without making it too obvious for James' sake. In the meantime, I tried my best to smile flirtatiously at him, and glare at Victoria. They seemed to buy it, giving me a few more seconds to pull both of us together.

I knew that Jasper's touch was very grounding and soothing to me, so I continued to rub circles on his hand, which slowly unclenched. He closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath in, and the slight change in his muscles told me he was back, too.

"So, _Vicky_," I mocked, "Shall we get this over with?"

"James told me to go easy on you. You're lucky he's taken a liking to you, for who knows why. But I'm still going to make you pay for embarrassing me with your cheating, bitch." As far as trash talk goes, that was kind of weak.

"Okay, whatever you say. Your funeral." I kicked aside the chairs in the center of the room, making a makeshift ring. I ripped two strips of cloth from the bottom of my shirt-what? It had a hole in it anyways-and started wrapping my hands with it. After I was done, I offered another pair to Victoria, just to irritate her. She scoffed and took out a roll from her pocket. Seems like she came prepared. I shrugged, and let her prepare. I didn't care that my stomach was now exposed to the chilly air; I'd be heated up soon. Victoria wasn't the best I'd ever faced, but she was decent. She had to be able to shame all those weaker girls somehow, right? Plus, I'd heard from some contacts I still had that she'd been training rigorously just in preparation of our rematch. Frankly, I felt a little flattered. I was still going to kick her ass, though. It would just be a nice workout.

As I got into my stance and waited for Victoria to make the first move, never taking my eyes off her, I took in my surroundings one more time. The layout of the room was pretty much burned into my eidetic memory by now, but I carefully went over it and the positions of James and Jasper. James was staring at the gap between where my now very short top ended and where my slim-fitting cargo pants started. It was very creepy.

Jasper was glaring at James, that adorable little muscle in his jaw popping out again. Remembering what past-life me knew about possessiveness over mates and how past-life Jasper and I had been this 'true mates' thing, I wondered if his vampiric state of mind was warring with his human side right now. After all… what was it?

_Sigh. I really don't like playing professor of vampire lore, but this is just going to distract you otherwise. Even though there is no way the other would be interested in another unless the relationship was mutually agreed upon to be open, mates still tend be very easily enraged when it comes to their mate being chased after, as mates are pretty much each others' reason for existence. One other exception is if the other party is an incubus or succubus, whose gift is to be able to create an attraction or lustful feeling in any other being of their preferred gender, but even then the effect is not as strong. In cases where the relationship is open, the mating bond will only allow it if it is the perfect scenario for both individuals. There. Are you happy now?_

Actually, yeah. That was pretty interesting.

_Now, FOCUS!_

I pulled myself back into the real world, just in time to see Victoria come at me with a right hook. I dodged, using her forward momentum to flip her. She came out of it in a roll, though, and tried to trip me. I jumped, twisting so that we both faced each other once more. I threw a punch at her torso, expecting her dodge and landing a blow with my left hand.

She backed off, taking a moment to recover, before coming at me again with a boxing combination. I made sure her fists only met air before twirling around and putting her in a half nelson, then a headlock. She managed to twist out, so I caught her in a thumb hold instead.

Again, she used her knack for escape. She advanced, managing to land a blow to my side, but I didn't let that phase me, getting in a good hit or two. I distracted her with an uppercut that I followed up with a low spinning kick. She dodged the punch, but felt the full force of my foot; the spinning adding to the impact so the breath was definitely knocked out of her. I sensed Jasper and James getting into it beside us, but concentrated mostly on Victoria. She _had_ gotten better. But so had I.

I noticed that she still didn't use her less dominant side nearly enough, so I went after that gap in her defense, until she started correcting it. But I continued exploiting the weaknesses I found so that she didn't even have time to try and advance on me, too busy trying to block my hits.

I took advantage of the layout of the room, making her stumble past the chairs to distract her from my attack. I didn't usually like to straight out attack all the time, but I was angry as hell with her and James. And while I didn't let that make me sloppy, I did channel it into a cold fury that fueled my relentless advancement on her.

She tried her best to fight back, even managing to make impact with me a couple times. It was a good try. But not good enough.

I was unleashing all the experience I had within all my lives combined. Really, she never had a chance.

Before long, I had her neck in the crook of my arm, and she was almost unconscious. I was slightly tempted to suffocate her, but instead just cut off the blood flow to her brain for just enough time for her to lose consciousness. And then let her drop on the floor like a limp rag doll.

"Well. That's over with." I stared Victoria just passed out on the floor for a second, then stretched, throwing a yawn into it.

I looked over to where Jasper was with James, just in time to see James get knocked out. Jasper looked alright, he'd maybe get a few bruises in the morning, but otherwise fine. He straightened his clothes and just kind of stared at the two unconscious bodies on the floor.

We exchanged a look, kind of saying, _what now?_ I mean, Victoria and James' craziness had been such a big part of our lives, at least the threat of them. Now they were helplessly in dreamland. Jasper injected each with a dose of the drug they had intended for our friends, for good measure.

There was one more beat of that feeling before relief crashed in, pulling Jasper and I together like magnets. We just held each other, in that godforsaken room, amidst the rope and duck tape and unconscious enemies. I also got some sweet, sweet sugar from Jasper, which I was very grateful for. But we couldn't bask in the glow of threat disposal for long, for the plan we'd set in motion as Edward left the room to work. So, we gathered up all evidence we'd been there, wiped down anything that we might've touched, and pushed all the chairs in a corner so they looked like they'd just been left there. As they were old and rickety, we were pretty confident they'd buy it. When we were confident that the local cops wouldn't know we were affiliated in any way with the anonymous tip phoned in from a payphone near the diner, we left. After I kicked James really hard in the side, of course. For putting me in a situation where I had to flirt with him.

The police would find the elusive smaller-time gang boss that had been travelling across the country causing chaos, and his female partner who made it possible for them to somehow evade the law. They were wanted for a whole slew of charges from breaking and entering to manslaughter, and even murder. From what I'd heard on the news, they had enough evidence, just didn't know their location. The Forks PD would get recognition and congratulations, and we'd be rid of James and Victoria.

We left the area just as we started hearing the sirens.

_Congratulations, Izzy. That was certainly good practice._

Practice?

_You haven't forgotten, have you? You still have a long road ahead of you. Your destiny is far from over, you know. You can pretend all you want, but you're never going to be normal._

I know.

_One year later…_

I headed towards Rose's room, glad to see that she'd finally disposed of all the dead flowers. The funeral was a month ago, and she had to let go. I knew that she hadn't really been all that close to her mother, but I could understand that she wasn't so much grieving for what was, more for what could've been. When my mom had died, I'd felt the same way.

But she still had to put that behind her, or she would drown in it. I had first-hand experience.

"Hey, Rose. Alright?" I asked, leaning against her doorway. She looked up from the cardboard box of her belongings and smiled, if somewhat sadly.

"Yeah. You want to help me unpack?" Her mom had left her their house, but she didn't want to live in that big empty house all by herself. She didn't have enough happy memories to hang onto it, so she sold it. I, of course, had offered for her to move in as soon as she expressed that she didn't want to keep it from someone who actually would live in it and make happy memories.

"Sure." I walked over and got down to it, sharing a smile with her.

Surprisingly, she didn't have all that much stuff she wanted to keep. There were only a few mementos, and the rest of her clothes, as well as other essentials. The rest of their stuff went to charity. Most of her sentimental stuff and things she used most were over here, anyways, so it didn't take long. Emmett stopped by to help, too, so that shortened the time even further. He'd started living here also once his Nonna decided to move into an elderly group home-type situation. He visited often, and they were both happy. He was legal, so the law was happy, too.

After the whole thing with James and Victoria, we'd all grown even closer. We'd successfully explained away our absences from school, and that part of our lives pretty much went back to normal. We really were family now, even if not by blood. While Emmett and Rose were the only ones officially living here, everyone else practically did as well. Especially Jasper. Oh, Jasper. We were officially boyfriend and girlfriend, but it felt like so much more.

_Of course it does honey, you're true mates in the past life and this one. Well, the human equivalent anyways. For now._

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just going to ignore you right now.

_Ouch. I am sooo, very hurt._

Ahem. What was I saying? Ah, yes. Our minds from all our previous lives were pretty much meshed together now, and Alice as well as Edward had gone through the same thing, although to a lesser degree. They just weren't…reincarnated, I guess…as often, so they had less trouble with it, also because Jasper and I could help them through it. I had no idea why the timing was so different with everyone, but then again I had long ago learned to stop overthinking the weirdness. One thing I had noticed though, is that it seemed that the different stages went couple by couple. But then, if the whole true-mates or whatever human version of the same phenomenon thing was considered, that wasn't too surprising.

Jasper and Edward were both spending more time over here, though, because apparently their stepfather and Mike were driving a wedge of sorts between them and their mother. She was too grateful to him to see it, though, and had been manipulated to think that the thoughts were her own. Edward was hurt, Jasper too, but they'd accepted it and had reluctantly cut them almost completely out of their lives before they could inflict too much pain. Alice was there for Edward, and I would always be there for Jasper. Always.

Alice, well she'd had a really bad fight with her mother, so she had been staying over for almost a month now. It allowed her to provide moral support for both Edward and Rose, and she was happier as she didn't feel the full effects of the rift with her mother. Apparently, we all had mothers that wore down on you the more time you spent with them.

Anyways, aside from all that, we were pretty content with the way things were. Our blood families might not always be there for us, but we had each other, people that would.

For example, one night the guys all decided to go for a boys' night out. Alice took that opportunity to organize a girls' night in, but it was cut short when we got a phone call from Edward that some guy and his friends were drunkenly trying to fight with Emmett. He'd used the moves we'd taught him to knock some of them out. Jasper and Edward got the rest. When we got there, we managed to convince the witnesses that they'd just passed out and imagined the whole thing. They were all really drunk, so that certainly helped. By the time the police got there, we'd erased ourselves from the situation.

But all things considered, we'd had a pretty normal year. No kidnappings or enemies from the past coming to haunt us. It was pretty great. I mean, the most drama we'd had aside from everything I'd mentioned was our continuing problem with Lauren. And after everything, she couldn't even come close to intimidating us. Not that she'd had a chance before, but still.

Rose smiled, thanking us for helping her unpack. We assured her that she didn't even need to thank us, what were housemates for? She chuckled a bit at that, and then gave Emmett a soft kiss. I knew what was coming next, so I rolled my eyes. Even the chastest of kisses usually turned into more with them; they had more make out sessions than I could count. Neither seemed to care much if they were in public or not, the exhibitionists. But then again, that was a little hypocritical, considering Jasper and I were almost as bad. Almost. Edward and Alice were a bit more private. As I predicted, the kiss quickly escalated into a heated session, both of them seemingly forgetting about their surroundings. I was about to leave and give them their privacy when both of them collapsed. I rushed over, shouting over my shoulder for Jasper who was probably somewhere in the house. Checking their vital systems, they seemed fine, so I pulled open their eyelids. Their eyeballs were rolled so far back into their heads that you could only see white, and I knew what this was.

Rainbow fog strikes again.

_Veeeeery clever, Izzy. I'm practically peeing myself right now, I'm laughing so hard._

Lay off on the sarcasm there, it's suffocating.

_Hardy-har-har._

Hey, you started it.

_Oh. I guess that changes everything, then. What's clever retort is next? 'I'm rubber, you're glue'?_

Shut up.

_Shut what up? I don't really have an actual mouth, remember?_

The principle is the same. Just give me some silence inside my head please?

_Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?_

Sure. Fine. Yes. Whatever it takes.

_Okay. I guess I could leave you alone for a _little_ while…but the second something interesting happens, your internal commentary courtesy of me, Skydd, will be back full force._

I wouldn't expect anything else from you. With a roll of her eyes that I somehow picked up, she sank back into whatever dark corner of my mind she resided in when she wasn't being snarky with me.

Jasper, Edward, and Alice were all here apparently, so they all appeared at the doorway. Jas walked over and did the same checks I had, one hand flat on my back. We exchanged a look, crouched next to Emmett and Rose, and then glanced back at Alice and Edward. They were the last to go through the weird past-lives recollection moment, but that meant the should be the most prepared. Jasper and I found that since we'd been pulled out of it before we should've, we could go back in whenever we wanted to examine our past lives. It made us very vulnerable to attack, though, since we'd be in a meditative or sometimes even unconscious state. Edward and Alice couldn't really do the same, but they could call upon their past memories just like their normal ones.

As far as Emmett and Rose went, we really could only wait and make sure they don't wake up prematurely. Because of how Jasper and I had been pulled out of it, we'd also had to suffer severe migraines and personality swings while our brains tried to mesh together without having gone through all of it.

We'd pretty much settled into a constant, though. Jasper told me that he also had voices in his head, but unlike other people who would've thought him crazy, we knew that it just had to do with some weird juju that for some reason centered on us. Even though we could dive into the past and maybe gain some more answers, it wasn't that easy. Every time we came back, our personalities would split a little and we'd have to wait for them to merge again. In the meantime, the migraines would come back, and all for memories that could or could not be relevant. We didn't have really precise control over which moments we could revisit. We could pick a life and a vague section of that life, but couldn't really narrow it down. The memories would just randomly come to us; there was no picking and choosing.

Alice and Edward's personalities had changed a little afterwards, just as ours had, but they were much more secure and in control. They were also more like themselves, so we had concluded that it was far better to make sure Rose and Emmett came out of this state of their own accord.

As far as I knew, Skydd was a part of the weird juju, and also part of my gift. She was supposed to actively make sure I was as safe as possible. She would know things that there was no possible way of knowing, but were very useful to me. Just another aspect of the gift I'd had and possibly do have a little of. But Loki was left over from all my lives that had involved Vampirism. She really was different, and I couldn't really know why she was there. The God of War and Jasper were the same way. All signs pointed to the Major as the parallel version of Skydd, but he didn't have a shield, so how would that work?

_Really? You're forcing me to be Professor Skydd again? I do not enjoy this, you know. But, I guess I have to. Here we go. While Jasper doesn't have the same gift you do, you are true mates, or were, or kind of are, or whatever. The point is you have a strong bond. When you both are vampires, it's actually stronger than most bonds between true mates. Probably a little of that…what was it you called it? Weird juju. In your past lives, and in this one, you are the most important person to each other, so much so that if one died, the other would definitely soon follow, even if it was after some sort of revenge. Therefore, his safety was very important to your safety, so the Major is also a part of your gift, to keep him safe, which keeps you safe. Of course, it's also part him, mostly his more ruthless side mixed in with that aspect of your gift, and voila! The God of War is all him, though, and it's basically the same idea as Loki is with you._

Oh. That makes sense.

_Really? After all that, all you say is, 'Oh. That makes sense.' I gave you that much information, even though I didn't really want to, and you answer me with one word and one sentence? You know what? You don't even have to ask this time, I'll leave on my own and ignore _you_, instead of the other way around. Humph!_

I sighed internally, but knew that Skydd wouldn't manage to keep silent for long, especially if it was a situation where I really needed her. As weird as it was to have a sassy, talking panther-like-thing in your head, she was there for a reason, and so she couldn't really ignore me if it came down to it.

I suggested that we all head off and do whatever we wanted to while we were waiting, leaving one rotating person to make sure Em and Rose were okay. Having us all here, doing nothing wouldn't exactly help them, anyways. Besides, it was a boring, to be honest. I also volunteered to go first, since I didn't really have anything to do, anyways.

Edward and Alice left after one more concerned look at our unconscious friends, but Jasper stayed behind. I looked at him with questions in my eyes, but he just smiled.

"I don't much to do, either. Besides, I like keeping you company." He was so sweet. And secretly kind of a romantic, like me. I loved it when he did or said something like this. While we weren't the kind to do grand romantic gestures like Edward and Alice, we did have our simple but lovely moments, and that was the way I liked it. I pecked him on the lips, and settled into his side. We both sat there, kind of side hugging and watching over Rose and Em, not feeling the need to break the silence. It was moments like this when I was happiest. Not the part with an unconscious pair of friends, of course, but the part with Jasper. Whatever happened, we always found a moment to just be together.

Oh, god, I'm getting sappy again. One of my past-selves must've been one of those dopey, moon-eyed girls who loved Romeo and Juliet, because this was definitely not present-me. Come to think of it, it was only after coming to Forks and starting this weirdness that I've started thinking like that. Figures.

"I love you, you know that?" The words came out of my mouth before I could think. We both sort of knew without saying that we loved each other, but we'd never told each other. Jasper smiled my favorite smile, slow and easy, reminding me of sunshine and honey.

"Yeah. I love you too." It didn't really do anything more than confirm what I already knew and felt, but it felt nice all the same to hear the words. That warm feeling that matched his smile spread throughout my body, and I leaned my head against his shoulder and soaked in all the positive feelings. I felt the edges of my mind begin to shimmer, and instead of being freaked out by it, I felt strangely calm. The shimmering film grew until it filled the whole room, and Jasper started slightly, looking at the ethereal glow. Wait, this isn't just my imagination? This is real? He can see it, which must mean that it's real, right?

Before I could freak out too much, my body righted itself, then I felt a wave of emotion emanating from Jas. I tasted-for lack of a better word-the feelings and came up with curiosity, amazement, and wonder. What was this?

_I thought it was obvious. Your gifts have appeared. This makes things _much_ more interesting!_

My eyes wide, I turned to Jas, who didn't seem to realize he was emitting his emotions until he felt mine. I'm guessing that's what happened, at least, because he started again and turned to me. I couldn't help myself; I started laughing. We knew what was happening from the rainbow fog, as I would forever call it. So we weren't all that freaked out, just surprised, maybe marveling at this new part of ourselves. We'd seen Edward and Alice work their powers, but this was different. We'd had it before, but not in this life, so to experience it firsthand felt crazy. Jasper joined in my laughter, the emotions coming from him changing to a giddy sort of humor.

Yeah, I thought to myself. This does make things more interesting.

**AN/: Sorry that it took a while to update…Hurricane Sandy passed by us, and while we weren't in the worst part, we lost power; it's been a week. The worst we had were a few downed trees and the power, so I'm fine. But no power means, among other things like no heat, no internet. No internet means no updating. So, I've had this chapter ready for a while, especially because school was also shut down because of the power outages, but I couldn't post it…yeah. In fact, the only way I'm posting this now is because my family got sick of being cold and without power, so we drove two hours to Philly and got a hotel room for one night.**

** One more thing, do you guys think I should've ended the story at James and Victoria's arrest and started a sequel for all the stuff I have planned? Or should I keep it in the same story? I'm undecided, so I figured you could maybe tell me which you would prefer…thanks to everyone who reviewed, and I'm sorry for the long wait…stupid weather. And, I guess that's it. Hopefully, the next time won't take so long because we'll have our power restored, whether it be new chapter for Destiny, or possible sequel-thing. Yeah. Oooookay.**

**UPDATE: After some thought and some awesomely fast and nice reviews, I decided to post Part 2 separately. I put up this chapter first, but hopefully the real chapter will be up soon.**


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